WINTER IN UKRAINE

How a beleaguered region's developers are managing the uncertainty, grief and horror of unprovoked invasion

- EDWIN EVANS-THIRLWELL

Bogdan Chepovyi can’t tell us where he is, but when we talk, in late September, he’s been relocated away from Ukraine’s frontline with Russia. In peacetime, Chepovyi is a 3D artist at Kyivbased Frogwares, creator of the Sherlock Holmes games and Lovecraftian adventures such as The Sinking City. At the time of our interview, he works in a technical capacity for Ukraine’s military, and is mostly not in combat. “I was sent away from the front after my father went missing in action,” he says. “He was a commander in my unit. It was extremely difficult to leave without him. Now I use more technical skills in my daily work, and I rarely pick up my weapon. The work is quite routine, but useful for the army.”

Frogwares QA specialist Rostislav Plavynsky has also joined up. He has found army life to be a mixture of high tension, mundanity and sheer exhaustion, often involving 14-hour days. “I am part of a unit that is in charge of resupplying various frontline and support units that are directly involved in fighting,” he says. “So, I have several different tasks, but mainly I deal with paperwork and fuel and oil accounting. Sometimes we will also go out into the field to dig trenches for units, or help with transportation needs.”