A Year in hell: soldier's foxhole survival stuns

Serhii Krynitskyi, 42, poses for a photo on his first day back on duty after recovery, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

For 346 days, Ukrainian soldier Serhii Krynitskyi lived through a nightmare few could imagine. Buried inside a cramped foxhole near the front line, he battled Russian assaults, survived drone attacks, scavenged food from the dead and watched the only comrade who shared his ordeal bleed to death beside him.

The 42-year-old's extraordinary survival story has emerged as drone warfare transforms the battlefield into a deadly "kill zone", where tiny groups of soldiers can remain trapped underground for months because moving in or out is often a death sentence.

Serhii shows a photo of him with fellow soldiers in the beginning of his service in November 2024,

Krynitskyi served near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine from April 20, 2025, until March 31, 2026. Armed with a mobile phone powered at times by batteries salvaged from downed Russian drones, he recorded raw video diaries documenting life inside a dugout measuring roughly three by four metres beneath relentless bombardment.

His haunting footage captured moments of exhaustion, fear and loss. On day 326, he filmed the body of his closest comrade after shrapnel from a drone-dropped bomb severed an artery in the soldier's leg.

"In the morning, you're joking together," Krynitskyi said into the camera. "And by the evening, it's the gates of heaven calling."

Before the war, Krynitskyi worked in farming and construction until a serious injury left him in a month-long coma. He later earned a living breeding rabbits before being rounded up by draft officers in late 2024, quickly trained and sent to join Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade.

He and two fellow soldiers dug themselves deep into the earth as Russian forces advanced. One comrade was killed early in the deployment during a drone strike that left Krynitskyi temporarily deaf. The survivors repeatedly rebuilt their shelter after further attacks destroyed parts of it.

Life underground became a brutal routine. Resupply drones sometimes failed to reach them for three or four days, forcing Krynitskyi to collect food, cigarettes and equipment from fallen Russian soldiers. In one diary, he proudly displayed packets of Camel, Winston and Chesterfield cigarettes gathered from the battlefield. In another, he showed off 13 captured rifles arranged in a row.

Combat never stopped. Russian assault groups of two or three soldiers regularly crept to within 20 metres of the foxhole before Krynitskyi opened fire. He said he killed 23 Russian soldiers during the deployment, including one who pretended to surrender before aiming a rifle at him. His brigade confirmed the reported number of enemy kills, although Reuters could not independently verify every aspect of his account.

The ordeal reached its devastating climax on March 11. Hearing an explosion outside, Krynitskyi rushed from the dugout to find his companion critically wounded by a drone strike. He dragged him inside, cut open his trousers and applied a tourniquet, but the wound proved fatal.

Ordered to abandon the position as Russian troops closed in, Krynitskyi crawled away that night before later completing a hazardous 25-kilometre journey to safety. He was forced to leave behind the body of the man who had shared nearly a year of unimaginable hardship.

In May, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy awarded Krynitskyi the Hero of Ukraine medal for personal bravery. Military charity official Andriy Derun said countless Ukrainian soldiers had endured similar horrors, warning such experiences could "completely destroy a

person."

Serhii cleans an AK assault rifle on his first day back on duty after recovery, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the frontline city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 27, 2026

Nearly two months after leaving the front, Krynitskyi still struggles with the psychological scars. His hands shake and he fights back tears. But after visiting schools near his home, he said he found comfort in believing his sacrifice had protected future generations, saying he realised his defence of Ukraine "wasn't in vain."

A year in a foxhole: Ukrainian soldier survives beneath the front line