After days without water in a ruined basement at the front lines, Ukrainian soldier Vladyslav turned away from his comrades and peed into a bottle. "Then it cooled down and I drank it," he recalls.

Vladyslav, 23, was one of two fighters ordered to hold a position in Klishchiyivka, a village in the eastern Donetsk region, for two weeks in the summer of 2024. Instead, the men endured two months in the position where at times hunger and thirst were more fearsome enemies than the Russian assault teams trying to dislodge them.

Klishchiyivka offers a strategic viewpoint across the surrounding landscape and has been fought over intensely since November 2022. The settlement was home to hundreds of people before the war but has been destroyed by fighting. The ruined village is currently under Russian control.

Vladyslav told RFE/RL that his comrade were ordered to take over an unoccupied basement in the village.

"They told me: 'Go and man the position, there's no one else there,'" he said. Inside the basement, however, the pair discovered a starving Ukrainian soldier whose condition foreshadowed what they were about to endure. "He was so thin and exhausted his bones were showing through." The man would stay on with the new arrivals through everything that would follow.

At active frontline positions such as the one held by Vladyslav and his comrades, enemy reconnaissance drones constantly scan for movement, which is relayed to artillery and first-person view (FPV) drone teams as soon as soldiers are spotted. As a result, supplies are generally delivered by drone, but in wet or stormy weather, quadcopters are unable to fly and soldiers go without food or water.

"At first, we tried to nurse our exhausted comrade, but we were short of water from day one." Vladyslav told RFE/RL. "We packed a lot, but on the way to the position we had handed water to guys we met on the path so we arrived with only one bottle."

By the second week there was no water at all and the soldiers began to drink their own urine. "We thought, well, that's it -- we have to do something," Vladyslav said. He began scratching marks on the wall of the basement to mark the passing days.

When their nearby field headquarters was hit by a Russian strike, communication with the outside world ceased entirely. Although he had been urged not to leave the basement, Vladyslav says, "I wanted to drink so much that when I stood up I was shaking."

After clambering out of the artillery-ravaged position, Vladyslav found a well nearby. "I used a helmet to scoop up the water. The first time I brought some to the basement, that simple water from the well tasted sweet."

But the desperate mission for a drink was spotted by Russian reconnaissance. Drones, mortars, and artillery began pounding the Ukrainian position, then the men were attacked with gas. The use of banned tear gas has been confirmed on the Ukrainian battlefield, and soldiers say gas is often dropped in canisters from drones.

"There was so much that it was coming through my gas mask. Everything was burning, it was hard to breathe," Vladyslav says. "The only thing that saved me was when I realized I had to breathe calmly, that I couldn't panic. It was only when I breathed slowly that the filter [of my gas mask] worked."

Between attacks on their position, hunger began to gnaw at the men and they watched as their bodies became "ugly" from malnutrition. Vladyslav estimates his weight dropped to around 50 kilograms from his usual 75.

"At one point we were scraping up broken bits of instant noodles from the ground." When drones finally made it to their position and dropped supplies, Vladyslav recalls, "we were in heaven. I learned how to cook there; they dropped mashed potatoes, instant noodles, and biscuits."

Eventually Vladyslav's group were able to make sorties around the village of Klishchiyivka, gathering what food and water they could scrounge.

In turn, Russian troops made their own forays into the ravaged village.

One group of Russian fighters stalking through the settlement were spotted by Ukrainian drones and came under attack. The Russian troops dropped much of what they were carrying and ran for safety. Vladyslav says he clambered out of his basement position and found an abandoned backpack. "Inside was a phone, biscuits, stew, and some cereals." After dragging the prize to his embattled position he says, "the guys were so happy that there was food in there."

During another Russian foray, invading troops tried to storm the basement where Vladyslav and his comrades were holed up.

"We radioed to command that we were being attacked, then got ready to fight back. One of our drones was launched and started dropping bomblets on them. When one of the Russian fighters ran into our position, we shot him with rifles and our light machine gun. You can still see his blood on the concrete."

Vladyslav claims not to have experienced fear during the assault. "You're just running on adrenaline. You take up your position, switch off the safety on your weapon and wait. Then, as soon as the enemy comes in, you shoot and it's done. You don't really think about anything else."

After a full month, the men were told they would finally be replaced, but the tenuous battlefield situation meant the rotation was delayed still further.

With food and water scarce and under frequent shelling, Vladyslav says the strain at times was hard to bear.

"There were moments when I was under so much stress I wanted to shoot myself. My comrades talked through every topic we could think of. It was hard; all three of us were crying. We just wanted to go home."

Emotional relief for the young soldier came when his wife, who is living outside Ukraine, was able to reach him once by telephone. "She called my commander, then headquarters connected us through the radio and we talked. I was so happy it felt like I was flying through space. Then I spoke to my daughter. In that moment I could just forget everything else."

When the order finally arrived for the men to leave the position after a little over two months, they walked silently through darkness pierced occasionally by mystery flashlights and fires toward what they hoped were their own lines. Under attack from a Russian drone the men became separated, and it was not until dawn the next day that Vladyslav finally arrived at the relative safety of the command post. His comrades were wounded in the evacuation but also made it to safety, including the soldier they had discovered in the basement two months earlier.

His first priority was food. "I called my wife just to let her know I was out, then told her, 'Give me 10 minutes, I'm going to go eat.' I plowed through everything: sausages, mashed potatoes, instant noodles," he recalls. "Whatever I could get my hands on I wolfed down."

Conscription in Ukraine is currently set at 25, meaning Vladyslav could have avoided fighting. But even after his ordeal in Klishchiyivka he says, "I want to go back and help the guys. I want to be at the front and hear over the radio, 'That's it guys, hurrah, the war is over,' then watch everyone just get out and leave."

"I want everyone to return home -- everyone," the soldier says.

Editor's Note: Shortly after this interview was conducted in the Donetsk region in December 2024, Vladyslav was injured by a land mine while walking to a frontline position. He is currently undergoing treatment for his injuries.