NORTHERN UKRAINE—A powerful smell of cigarettes and sweat, mingled with the odors of a school cafeteria, overwhelms the corridor as a Ukrainian guard escorts us through the prison.
A little further on, a guard with a Cossack mustache escorts a Russian prisoner of war. The prisoner wears pants too big for him, and his face is tired.
Joseph Roche is a correspondent covering defense, diplomacy, economy, and religion in the broader Black Sea region. Based in Ukraine since 2022, his reporting also takes him to the Middle East, where he explores regional security dynamics and geopolitical shifts.
