Artem and his comrades have been on Ukraine's southeastern frontlines for months.
They watch and wait.
They clear away the endless mud and check the machine
guns provided by the United States and Germany.
Despite the regular thud of artillery, and the whirring of a Russian helicopter overhead,
things have been quiet lately in these trenches and bunkers dug into the black earth near Donetsk.
Ukraine is planning a major counteroffensive
in the coming weeks, which it hopes will shift the momentum.
An illusion it is.
Two of their machine guns killed about 30 Russian troops in a recent attack,
the group’s commander told Reuters during a reporting trip to the frontline.
Reuters couldn't independently confirm that.
Artem has been based in the Donbas region for about six months.
He and his comrades, mostly volunteers, rotate through the trenches: four days on, four days off.
The trench cat and her seven kittens help with the mouse problem.
The cramped dugouts give shelter from artillery shelling, mortars and weapons dropped from drones
- a threat to both sides along all 750 miles of eastern and southern frontline.
Artem's home city of Chernihiv in the north came under siege soon after Russia's invasion.
The 30-year-old soon joined up.
Once his loved ones were safe, it became "just a job," he says.
Oleksandr is also from Chernihiv city.
He's waiting for Kyiv to launch the counteroffensive
- and change the dynamics of a war that has slowed into a bloody battle of attrition.
Ukraine has vowed to take back all the territory seized by Russia.
Artem hasn't been home on leave for some time but says he'd rather wait till it's over.