Forester is a bear of a man. Hands like vices cover the tin cup with hot coffee. Before the war, says the mid-fifties, when he was a printer, has put the Ukrainian "Playboy" on paper. "Playboy, you can imagine that," laughs the man with the unusual nickname.
Hardly. It is bitterly cold. Förster's breath forms small clouds of steam when he speaks. This winter announces the winter with frosty temperatures. Even in the makeshift kitchen where the giant sits at the table. In the window frames behind him, plywood panels are fitted and sealed with construction foam, so that no light beam comes out. "Because of the sniper," says Förster.
One colleague of Förster got a bullet two months ago. At that time, they had just taken up a position. The use of brigades on the front sections is rotating. The man hit it in the middle of the three small peasant cottages in which the soldiers live.
A war - 13,000 dead
In the two kilometers away Solote a detachment of troops is finally bringing movement in the deadlocked Minsk peace agreement. End a war in Donbass, which has killed so far 13,000 people. This was a core promise of President Volodymyr Selenskyi in the election campaign.
Excavators dig in Solote trenches for the Ukrainian armed forces at a new, unused checkpoint. Trenches and checkpoint are still completely abandoned a good kilometer behind the previous line. The new one is at the level of 2016, before the Ukrainian forces in Solote regained ground from the pro-Russian separatists.
Now a demilitarized zone is to emerge, both warring parties have withdrawn. The security should be provided by the Ukrainian National Police, which are already patrolling parts of Solotse. At least that's the plan. If at last there is no more fighting.
photo gallery
14 pictures
Detachment of troops in eastern Ukraine: combatants in DonbassBehind the houses begins the trench, in between lie crouched two ruins with dark window caves and broken glass. On the other side, a red shield with a white skull warns of mines.
It's been almost five years since Förster printed women on glossy paper. Since then he is a soldier. "I'm not a military, I'm just a printer, but we're not letting our Ukraine down on the Russians and their separatists, so I'm on the front line," says the brawny fighter.
He looks skeptically at the retreat in Solote, and a comrade sitting at the table nods. "I can not remember that the separatists did not shoot us for a long time, even though it has calmed down in recent days," says Förster.
DISPLAY
Till Mayer
Donbas
Europe's forgotten war
Erich-Weiß-Verlag136 pages; 18 euros
The so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when buying. More information here.
Being quieter does not mean that you do not shoot anymore, that you no longer fly grenades. Compliance with the ceasefire is a prerequisite for permanent troop detachment. This in turn has a key function for the implementation of the Minsk Agreement. (Read more about the backgrounds here)
The reality looks like this: During the night, not 100 meters away from Förster's position, two shells hit. And for almost a minute machine-guns barked from the nearby trench, not counting short volleys with the Kalashnikov.
"I do not trust the separatist, nor the Russians"
The next day brings a mild autumn sun. Leaving Förster's position behind him and the minefield to the right, he walks through a deserted village, then through a small bushy forest and squeezes through a narrow trench some hundred meters further, so you end up at Viktor in a bunker.
He looks like a position from the last World War. At ten, they sleep here in coarse loft beds. A Buller stove provides warmth, naked bulbs give a dim light. Such positions and trenches run through the entire Donbass.
The 57-year-old has been in action since the beginning of the war. It's hard for him to clear a trench without a fight. "I do not trust either the separatists or the Russians, Vladimir Putin wants to destabilize Ukraine and not peace," says the front fighter. And calls a place name that triggers emotions in probably every Ukrainian soldier: Ilovaisk. In the Donetsk region around 7,000 Ukrainian fighters and soldiers were encircled in August 2014. 366 unarmed soldiers died on 29 August 2014 when they wanted to use a Russian-secured corridor near Ilovajsk for withdrawal.
more on the subject
He was then taken prisoner for five months, reports Viktor. According to him, Russian soldiers of a paratrooper brigade captured him. "It was a regular Russian unit," he explains. Because of these experiences, Viktor considers it a bad idea to give up his own positions.
"And the police should then use their light weapons to ensure the order and safety of the civilians, which will not deter heavily armed looters," he says. "Sooner or later, the separatists will advance again and occupy our vacant positions, and that's the way it will come," says another soldier in the bunker.
Viktor fears "that the separatists will create a second Abkhazia, this is Putin's goal." Abkhazia is a breakaway Georgian region. Thanks to Russian support of the separatists there, Georgia has had no control over the self-proclaimed republic since 1993.