Pervomaisk, Ukraine — “Driving around the Moscow-backed ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ with two friends, we got wind that some sort of Cossack initiation ceremony was taking place in the war-ravaged town of Pervomaisk near the front line. We sped over there and arrived just in time. In the dilapidated grounds of a church, a priest anointed rebel recruits with holy water before each fighter knelt to kiss a Bible, a portrait of the Virgin Mary, the flag of the Great Don Army and an antique saber, touching their lips to its curved blade. This final ritual closed the solemn, hour-long ceremony and the ragtag band of rebels departed, many of them back to nearby trenches”