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"Gore, But No Glory For Russia's Ukraine War 'Veterans'",  by Christopher Miller, RFERL August 17, 2017https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-gore-no-glory-for-war-veterans/28681378.htmlMOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG -- Russian volunteer Andrei Kamayev arrived in war-torn eastern Ukraine in late September 2014, bursting with patriotic bravado and convinced that he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather -- a Soviet intelligence officer in World War II -- by fighting against "fascists and Nazis."Using terms propagated by the Kremlin to describe Ukrainian government forces fighting Russia-backed separatists, the 49-year-old Kamayev admits to other motives for joining up: he also wanted to help restore the "Russky Mir," or Russian World, and stave off the perceived encroachment of NATO.But his dream of military glory came to a quick and devastating end on February 1, 2015. As Kamayev followed a convoy of tanks during an assault near the strategic town of Debaltseve -- then Ukrainian-controlled -- a mortar shell exploded beside him, shredding part of his left leg. He was evacuated to a nearby hospital, but without the proper medicine to treat him, gangrene set in and doctors were forced to amputate the rest of his leg up to his hip.....