No-one talks seriously about returning swathes of territory anymore, like the Donbas region just south of here.
But Heorhiy thinks Ukraine cannot afford to stop fighting until it can demand better conditions in negotiations with Russia.
“We need real peace talks,” the commander says.
He has been buoyed up by the fact that war in the Middle East has seen countries turn to Ukraine for drone technology and expertise, both of which it can offer in abundance.
But the peace process, launched by the US, has since stalled, with President Donald Trump’s envoys diverted to their own war with Iran.
Ukraine is still pushing for strong security guarantees, too, from its allies: specifically, what the US would do if Russia were to invade again in the future.
“It’s not our choice. I don’t like war, my guys don’t like it. We used to have good civilian life,” Heorhiy says – and I’m reminded that several of his unit were DJs before the war, part of an underground electronic music scene in Dnipro.
“Now we do what we need to do.”
