On the second day of the war — with Russia invading Ukraine from the north, east, and south — military aged men in the west mobilized to duty. Men aged 18 to 60 were forbidden to leave the country by martial law, and being conscribed for duty in the city center of Khmelnytskyi, 170 miles southwest of Kyiv.

Read my first report from Ukraine for The Intercept — which I am posting here later than usual due to the challenges of being on the ground in Ukraine. There’s more reporting from Ukraine and on the war coming up.

Photo: conscribed men line up to board buses. They have no idea where they are going or if they will return; by John Bolger