Last summer, Artem Kariakin was among the first Ukrainian soldiers to cross the border and capture Russian territory in the Kursk region — in a surprise offensive aimed at strengthening Kyiv’s hand in any talks on ending the war.

Now, as those talks finally begin, he finds himself racing to retreat. With Russian forces closing in on Sudzha, the biggest town Ukraine had captured and where he was based, Kariakin piled gear and fellow troops into a pick-up truck and sped for the border.

“We put a guy in the back with a machine gun to try and shoot down any drones above us, switched on our jammers, crossed ourselves, and set off,” he told the Financial Times. “The main thing was just to get out of there.”