They keep the tanks rolling

Members of the 35th Marine Brigade repair a Soviet-era infantry tank, in the Donetsk region.

A BATTERED worker’s van whizzed back and forth along a village road near the front line in southern Ukraine, searching. It screeched to a halt, and three men unloaded heavy equipment and disappeared into the undergrowth.

What they were looking for, dug in and hidden under the trees, were three hulking British-made armoured vehicles known as Mastiffs. Supplied to the Ukrainian army for its attempt to retake Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine, the Mastiffs were in need of a service.