It feels more like the beginning of the twentieth century than a modern conflict, with tired and nervous soldiers catching their rifles around them as they reach open ground, scanning the area to move around the nation.
I know that the snipers, probably trained by the Russians, say that Ukrainian officials are looking for a chance to fire. More than 20 comrades have already been shot this year.
It is extremely quiet, with an occasional crack of a remote fire that destroys calm, keeping everyone on the sidelines.
This area near Mariupol is a risky place to visit the president of a country, but that does not stop Zelensky, who gave CNN unprecedented access to his journey on the front line, where he insists on going to the most advanced positions.
“If you visit a military base, the guys on the front will hear about it and think we forgot about them,” Zelensky told CNN in exclusive comments over two days. “They need to know that they have political support.”
Zelensky, tied in a jacket and a camouflage helmet, has to sprint on the open ground, with his presidential security, to reach the trench cover.
New boiling point in the long stop
For years, the brutal conflict in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists has been stalled in a tense confrontation. The major struggles, which have cost thousands of lives since 2014, have given rise to a deadlock. Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, fighting broke out in the neighboring region of Donbas – another predominantly Russian area of Ukraine, with rebels demanding independence from Kiev.
But amid growing tensions with the United States and its Western allies, Russian forces were once again seen moving across the border, raising concerns about the renewal of the war.
Videos appeared on the mobile phone with Russian armored columns leading to the Ukrainian border. Tanks and artillery weapons were seen being transported by rail. There has also been a reported build-up in Crimea.
In Moscow, the Kremlin says troop movements are in Russia, part of a planned military exercise and not a threat.
But on the front line, the Ukrainian president told CNN that a Russian invasion is a very real possibility for his country to prepare for.
“Of course. We know, since 2014 we know it can be every day,” he said.
“I’m ready, but we’re ready too because we’re on our land and in our territory,” he told CNN.
Lt. General Ruslan Khomchak, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, told CNN that an estimated 50,000 Russian soldiers had now gathered across the Russian border in Crimea. In addition, there are at least 35,000 Russian-backed separatists in rebel-held areas of Ukraine, he said.
Even before this worrying increase in the number of Moscow-commanded soldiers on the threshold of Ukraine, Zelensky called on the United States to sell him weapons, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles. These weapons were now delivered, most notably, in a telephone conversation with then-President Donald Trump.
Moving on to the future
From the air, above the muddy ditches, the seemingly endless plan of eastern Ukraine is punctuated by battered cities and rusty industrial pits of Soviet-era factories that made this war-torn region the economic backbone of Ukraine.
The deafening military helicopters of the old MI-8s were first developed in the Soviet era, painted in unusually vivid combat camouflage, flying fast and low over the country to avoid ground fire. Every few minutes he heads up to jump trees or power lines, then quickly throws himself down a few feet off the ground.
Aboard the aging presidential helicopter, which retains some well-worn comfort, Zelensky shouts over the engine noise about how the US is a “good friend” of Ukraine, but that President Biden “needs to do more” to discourage Russia and help at the end of this conflict.
More weapons, more money to fight and, crucially, more support for joining NATO, the Western military alliance, where an attack on one member forces everyone to answer, he explained.
“If they [the US] see Ukraine in NATO, they have to say it directly and do it. Not words, “Zelensky told CNN.
But the chances of this are slim, amid concerns that Ukraine’s proximity to NATO membership would provoke Moscow, possibly fueling a wider conflict.
“Maybe you’re right,” Zelensky replies.
“But what’s going on now? What are we doing here? What are our people doing here? They’re fighting.”
At the front line, Zelensky drove a minute of silence for the fallen.
With or without NATO, this is the reality of his country. Ukraine is at war.
CNN’s Zahra Ullah and Jasmine Wright contributed to this story.