Behind Russia's Battle Lines

Exclusive images taken along the Russia-Ukraine frontier offer a first look inside Moscow's ranks

- PHOTOGRAPHY BY GORAN TOMASEVIC

A SOLDIER HEARS HIS LEG MUST BE AMPUTATED AFTER STEPPING ON A UKRAINIAN landmine, while Russian special forces guide drones against Ukrainian enemies in a war like no other fought in human history.

War photographer Goran Tomasevic of The Globe and Mail spent more than a month in the Russia-Ukraine border regions, picturing members of Akhmat Spetsnaz (Special Forces) in their fight against Ukraine and providing the first such look from the Russian side since Vladimir Putin's forces invaded in 2022.

The pictures were also made available to Newsweek. Tomasevic photographed forces near the front line within Russia and at a hospital in the Donbas, a region of Ukraine that Russia claims as its own.

At a field hospital, he saw wounded soldiers who were mostly victims of drone attacks and land mines. Among them was an Armenian national fighting for Russia.

"He came to avenge his son who was killed by Ukrainian troops and then he stepped on a land mine and spent four days crawling to reach the clinic," Tomasevic said. "The doctors proceeded with the surgery and they chopped off his leg."

RETURNING FIRE