spotting an armoured vehicle marked with the symbol of the Russian army's "peacekeeping forces" The armoured personnel carrier was well inside Ukraine, in Lutuhyne, a town near Luhansk, where a Ukrainian military convoy was destroyed by artillery and Grad missiles last week Amid the remains of the destroyed Ukrainian column three soldiers stood by an intact armoured personnel carrier on Tuesday afternoon The men, who refused to be photographed, said they were from Russia and were not regular soldiers Their vehicle was marked in three places with a blue circle and the yellow Cyrillic letters MC – the Russian abbreviation for "peacekeeping forces" Many of these have been seen moving on the other side of the border in recent weeks and the vehicle's presence was yet more evidence of what Moscow has continually denied – that its soldiers are active in east Ukraine separatists have claimed that columns are not Russian military vehicles but trophies stolen from the Ukrainian army the distinctive MC peacekeeping signs are only featured on Russian vehicles used on peacekeeping missions in the Caucasus and Transnistria "Ukraine's only peacekeeping missions are with the UN it has to be Russian," said Oleksiy Melnyk a Ukrainian military analyst at Kiev's Razumkov Centre Half an hour after the APC was first spotted one of the soldiers could be seen painting over the MC signs with black paint When the Guardian returned to the scene on Wednesday said 70% of Russian forces had already left Ukraine after taking part in a surge against the Ukrainian army that pushed Kiev into signing a ceasefire agreement Driving on the road from Donetsk to Luhansk, several small convoys of trucks and armoured vehicles were visible that looked very different to the irregular rebel forces, and appeared to be manned by regular Russian troops The men by the armoured vehicle in Lutuhyne did not look as well equipped as other Russians seen in Ukraine in recent weeks; one of them was even wearing trainers but it appeared clear that at least the vehicle came from official Russian military stock Last month, the Guardian witnessed a Russian armoured column cross the border near the Izvaryne border post claiming the convoy was a border patrol that stayed on the border when Russian paratroopers were captured inside Ukraine claiming they had got lost and crossed the border "by accident" Bizhan was among Donbas veterans participating in the "Voice of War" project, which teaches writing skills so that veterans can share their experiences about the war in eastern Ukraine We met them and talked about their memories Some guys even imitated shell-shock to get out," says mobilized soldier Vitalii Piasetskyi who defended Donetsk Airport in January 2015 the separatists controlled all the floors above and beneath the one with Ukrainian soldiers They were throwing grenades through a hole in the terminal's ceiling and can't do a thing," the soldier adds "You know that the next bullet or a fragment might be for you You are making barricades," says Vitalii Another hot spot was Ilovaisk in August 2014 Ukrainian forces were withdrawing from the besieged town through a humanitarian corridor agreed on with the Russians "First they did not expect our counterattack: their equipment and people were so close to us They asked for a truce to recover their wounded and killed But what the Russians really wanted was to move their equipment a safe distance away: our maximum firing range was only 600 meters through grenade launchers," says a volunteer soldier Ukrainian soldiers knew that they had already lost the battle of Ilovaisk Those who remained surrendered to Russian army so they had the illusion that they would be treated in a civilized way "Both of us are armies: at least they won't kill us One local saw the road to Donetsk through a slit in a truck And we started saying farewell to our lives." ordered that volunteers of the Donbas Battalion not be taken as prisoners of war shooter and paramedic of the Donbas Battalion The separatists kept the captives in a basement Then we realized that they wouldn't kill us," recalls Ihor Then the separatists transferred the captives to rebuild Ilovaisk Two and a half months later—just before New Year's Day 2015—the Ukrainian prisoners of war were exchanged and went home a paramedic of the volunteer medic battalion Hospitallers confesses that women competed to see who could be more similar to the men "You couldn't identify yourself with other women I talked to or took smoke breaks mainly with men." you had to constantly prove that you could do your job "I was on duty at night when I did not have to I ran to the wounded when I did not have to." Alina provided medical aid to the injured during the battle that raged at Donetsk Airport in the winter of 2015 We waited for wounded troops for eight to ten hours Some soldiers put alcohol wipes under their tongues to wake up I had never drank so many energy drinks before," recalls Alina A sapper's war is a bit different but an equally important kind of war Ukrainian sappers usually remove only anti-tank mines which are risky for their lives We had to clear a passage of mines to allow snipers to get closer to enemy positions We hid and asked our forces via walkie-talkie to fire back,' Vadym says a serviceman who guarded military staff in Kramatorsk (2015-16) and Chasiv Yar (April-July 2016) It was a period of trench warfare in the Donbas with frequent truces and the main challenge for soldiers was to stay on their toes the Ukrainian army often shot down Russian surveillance drones we were training to launch fire right after the order—in no more than forty seconds This helped keep us busy," Yurii continues Talking about the situation after the so-called ceasefire of February 2015 a volunteer soldier fighting in Donbas in 2014-15 Maybe this is because the enemy is crawling to us," he adds I asked Vasyl what the scariest moment was He told me it was the retreat from Khriashchuvate to Shchastia "We had to defend the bridge in Shchastia and blow it up when needed We were awaiting a massive advance of Russian tanks and they see a totally different reality: they see peace But they also want to see positive changes in Ukraine "I believe that our country has a future—or else my war experience and the death of my comrades were in vain I can't accept that," says Vitalii Piasetskyi This article has been first published at the Atlantic Council. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Editor's note: UkraineWorld has launched a three-part series "The Voices of Ukrainian War Warfighters" that will be published weekly by UkraineAlert first and then republished here by UkraineWorld