Honor Phillips spoke with Ukrainian soldiers and volunteer medics about Russian gas attacks on the frontlines.

“Defending is very hard now. We lose every day a part of our land. Our soldiers morale is not as high as it was two years ago. They have strong characters, but when the fight is between steel and bodies, or ‘meat,’ every time steel will win.”

In America, the Soviet Union may just be a memory of a former opponent, but in countries all across Europe it represents torture, famine, ethnic deportation, death, and ideological oppression on a titanic scale.

Less than a year has now passed since Hendrickson and I sat in the bar. In that brief span of time, Ukraine has become recognized as the most landmine infested country in the world, surpassing even Afghanistan and Syria.