The town of Valuyki in western Russia has become a crucial staging post in the latest phase of Russia’s war over the nearby border in Ukraine. Throughout last month, helicopters buzzed overhead, military vehicles clogged the roads, and soldiers prepared for combat at a huge military base there.
It's also a place where soldiers’ relatives and private citizens are working to provide supplies and equipment for troops based near the town to address shortages, including drones, radios and heat-detecting rifle sights, according to six volunteers and three soldiers Reuters spoke to, as well as a review of social media channels volunteers use to coordinate efforts.
Among them is Olga Lukina, a local resident who said her husband serves in a noncombat role in a Russian military reconnaissance unit. She said some reconnaissance units were short of drones and night-vision equipment, in particular, while other units fighting in Ukraine "need food, diesel, somewhere to wash themselves and wash their clothes.”