“We were jumping like rabbits under mortar rounds and bombs.”When it got quieter, he and fellow soldier Slava fell asleep. In the presence of two Ukrainian soldiers, the three men described low morale in their trenches, disarray and the apparent expendability of some Russian forces. Mark Phillips/CNNHopes of exchangeThe men’s captors want them exchanged for Ukrainian soldiers held by the Russians, but they don’t have high hopes. When he saw the Ukrainian soldiers, he crawled away in fear and huddled with two soldiers. A Ukrainian soldier later explains that it’s difficult to hear what the Russian soldiers are saying during the gunfights.

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Persons: ” Anton, “, Slava, let’s, ”, Anton, sobs, Mark Phillips, Storm Z, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, maiming, Volodymyr Zelensky, Sergei, ‘, ’, CNN “, ” Sergei, ” Slava Organizations: Eastern, Eastern Ukraine CNN, CNN, Ukrainian Third Assault Brigade, International Committee, Russian Ministry of Defense, “, Third Assault Brigade, Wagner PMC, Storm Z, Brigade, Ukrainian Armed Forces Locations: Eastern Ukraine, Russian, Bakhmut, “, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Russia, ”, Mariupol, Moscow, Kherson