Infantry officer Oleksiy just spent 343 days without leaving the front line, in what his battalion believes is one of the longest combat deployments for an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
His lengthy deployment, in the woodlands between settlements in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region, underscores Ukraine’s severe lack of manpower as the war drags on after more than four years.
The 37-year-old had the opportunity to leave the front at one point but volunteered to stay due to the manpower challenges.
“My company is understaffed (as are all the others) and of those who are here, roughly half are in the 50-plus age bracket,” said Oleksiy – whose call sign is “Botanik,”…