Russia-Ukraine War

       Photos What Ukraine Has Lost The Artillery Supremacy Struggle Images From the Border Bracing for an Onslaught

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       Energy Drinks Boost Ukraine’s Soldiers, and Its Economy

       Cans packed with caffeine and branded with patriotic machismo have become an essential antidote to the stresses of war.

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       Cases of energy drinks — and a few of soda — are stacked outside a shop popular with soldiers near the front line in eastern Ukraine.Credit...Emile Ducke for The New York Times

       By Jeffrey Gettleman

       Reporting from Ukraine, Jeffrey Gettleman interviewed soldiers and the makers, marketers and roadside sellers of energy drinks. He also drank one.

       June 8, 2024Updated 10:06 a.m. ET

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       On a sunny morning, deep in the forests of western Ukraine where the war barely reaches, 16,000 cans of a new energy drink, Volia, rolled off the assembly line every hour at the Morshynska beverage factory.

       Several hundred miles east, driving toward the front line, the sweating coolers at the minimarts and gas stations are loaded with Volia and an array of other energy drinks: Burn, Monster, Non Stop, Hell, Pit Bull and of course the eye-widening veteran of them all, Red Bull.

       By the time one reaches the trenches, where thousands of troops are dug in, trying to survive, the supremacy is complete: Ukrainian soldiers will pass up coffee, Coke, even water in favor of the liquid jolt they need to keep going.

       “In the morning, when I wake up, I drink an energy drink. When I head out on patrol, I drink an energy drink. Before an attack, I drink an energy drink,” said one Ukrainian soldier who identified himself by his call sign, Psycho, for security reasons, according to military protocol.

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       “Let me explain something as a reconnaissance person,” Psycho continued. “When you have to walk three, four or seven kilometers. And you’re carrying 40 kilograms of gear. And you’re covered in sweat. And you haven’t eaten much or slept in three days. If you don’t drink this stuff, where are you going to get the energy for that final push?”

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       Loading Volia energy drinks into a van at a logistics center in Kyiv last month.Credit...Emile Ducke for The New York Times

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       Jeffrey Gettleman is an international correspondent based in London covering global events. He has worked for The Times for more than 20 years. More about Jeffrey Gettleman

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