Fear recedes for Ukraine's volunteers, for whom war is 'just a job'

A Ukrainian service member Oleksandr, 44, is seen in a trench at a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine April 28, 2023. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

ON THE FRONTLINE IN DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) - After months of living in trenches and bunkers near Ukraine's southeastern frontlines, Artem and his fellow soldiers have lost the fear they once felt.

The war ebbs and flows for the 30-year-old volunteer from a small town near Chernihiv, in the north of the country, that came under siege early on in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago and was briefly occupied.