Ukrainian Oilfield Hands in North Dakota Fear ‘What Comes Next’

BERTHOLD, North Dakota—Dmytro Tupytsia has Christmas off, but he’d rather be laboring hard that day, “tearing down iron” and building “frack trees” at SandPro, where he’s worked since August. “For me,” he said, “it is better” than dwelling on how much he misses his wife, 10-year-old daughter, and seven-year-old son eight time zones and more than 5,000 miles away in a town outside Odesa near Ukraine’s border with Moldova. Mr. Tupytsia’s is ensnared in a lonely limbo of apprehensive uncertainty, fearing for his family, wondering what is happening at home, worried his embattled nation won’t outlast Russia’s grinding invasion for a third winter in a war of attrition Vladimir Putin is willing to wage until the ledger of lost lives dilutes Ukraine’s capacity to resist....