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Surrey, England: Greetings from the Hand & Spear Hotel in Surrey, England.

I’m sitting in the kind of pub where you could relax all afternoon and forget to go home. The shelves behind me are lined with books and I sink into a leather armchair waiting for an old friend to join me for lunch. I feel at home as soon as I arrive: the music is low, the lighting is soft, and the air is cool on a hot summer’s day. Sitting here, you could feel sure that all was right with the world.

David Crowe meets Shaun Hopkins at the Hand & Spear Hotel in Surrey, England.Credit: David Crowe

But I’m at this pub to discuss a place where so much is all wrong. I’m catching up with Shaun Hopkins, a tech worker and aid volunteer, on his return from the eastern edge of Ukraine. The Hand & Spear, in a small forest in Weybridge, is the best place to meet: I can get the train from London, and he can turn off the M25 without messing with city traffic.

Shaun walks in the door with an easy hello. He is a big man with a quick smile and a hint of Welsh music in his voice. Nobody would guess that he was in Pokrovsk two days earlier – a town in the news this week because it could be caught by a sudden Russian advance.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen,” he tells me of his latest visit. “It reminded me of the first........

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