evidence: Despite the fact that soldiers are officially forbidden from using private mobile devices on the front lines, most of them still do. As one Ukrainian army soldier told us: [...] In this paper we offer an account of the role mobile tech- nologies play for soldiers and civilians involved in or affected by an armed conflict. Such an in situ investiga- tion carried out on both sides of the frontline helps us understand the mundane social practices at war and how they are shaped by technological devices and infrastruc- tures, civilian as well as military ones. Though the con- flict has changed, becoming more organized and formalized over time, the soldiers continued to rely on local volunteers for sweaters in winter and legal advice when in trouble. From the beginning, private mobile phones were a key infrastructure in this war. Existing in parallel with the army communication infrastructure, private mobiles allowed soldiers to link with different actors in civil society. As the war unfolded soldiers pre- dictably used mobile media in creative ways for infor- mation gathering and even local enemy negotiations but they also relied on these devices to relieve the boredom of active duty. This continued despite the fact that these devices critically endangered them when in use.