Ukraine: Hell of Bakhmut: “They trudge over the dead comrades”

Puffs of black smoke rise above what remains of the city on the banks of the Bakhmutka. The thunder of gunfire rang out incessantly. The road from Chasiv Yar to the west of Bachmut leads is the last one that is still considered comparatively safe. In the few vehicles that race over them at high speed, there are almost exclusively military people. Most drive out of town.

It seems only a matter of days before the city that has embittered Ukrainian defenders for months falls Resistance performed against the onslaught of Russian forces. The battle in the Bakhmut region is bloodier than any other in Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

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It’s a gruesome slaughter reminiscent of the horrors of World War I. Russians and Ukrainians entrench themselves in trench systems, constantly shelling each other with heavy artillery. Pictures and videos show the brutality of the fighting. Only the stumps of the trees remain from whole areas of forest. Drones are throwing grenades into the trenches where the men are crouching in the mud. thousands soldiers on both sides are killed, maimed, injured.

Volodomyr witnessed this horror. He is in his late 30s, comes from southern Ukraine, and has a gaunt face. After Russian raid in February he volunteered to defend his homeland. He lights one cigarette after the other. Before the war he was a non-smoker.

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“Do you know the movie World War Z?” he asks, blowing the smoke into the air. The movie is a Hollywood ham about a zombie apocalypse. “That’s exactly how you have to imagine it,” says the soldier and pauses. “The Russians have waves of soldiers chased straight into our fire. They trudged towards our positions over the bodies of their dead comrades. When we fired, they didn’t even duck.” Volodomyr shakes his head. He suspects the Russians were drugged. Who else behaves like this?

Volodomyr is not the real name of the soldier, like other military personnel, he wishes to remain anonymous. His brigade must not be named either.

In December, his unit will be sent to the front relocated to Bachmut. Before that they fought at Cherson. In the 20-man squad he leads, they had three injured there for several months. At Bachmut, one man died in just under two weeks, two are missing and eight were injured. From his battalion with the original 500 men, 70 are still operational. This is a completely different war here than in the south, he says. Nobody was prepared for it: “It’s hell.”

“I had to hit him to make him shoot”

Volodoymr sharply criticizes his own military leadership. He does not understand why Bachmut must be observed, why it was not possible lines of defence to expand “They send people into battle who have just been mobilized and have had very little training.”

The explosions, the gunshots, the death all take their toll on these fresh recruits. You can hardly bear it all. “When I recovered a dead comrade, one of the new ones stood in front of me. He was just shaking, could hardly hold his gun.” Volodomyr lights another cigarette. “I had to hit and insult him so that he would shoot.” Volodmyr says he can overcome the “indifference and strategic stupidity” of the Ukrainians military leadership not understand in the fight for Bachmut.

Ten hours under continuous fire

When the Russian armed forces took Sieverodonetsk in the north of Luhansk Oblast in June last year, they were able to corner Bakhmut. In Horliwka in the south, the separatists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which belongs to Moscow, have been in power for six years. About Bachmut, so the military hope in Moscow, they can advance to the western cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, giving them complete control of Donetsk Oblast. What seems like an easy task at a time when Russian forces are making rapid advances in eastern Ukraine is turning into a nightmare for the invaders. But not only for them.

Volodymr and his men hold their position for nine days. In one day they are under continuous fire for ten hours from an enemy who has almost surrounded them. Then the retreat follows. When the young officer of the front returned home, he lies in bed for days. “I was stunned. My family wanted to take me to a mental hospital so I wouldn’t have to go back to the front.” Now he’s stationed in a town near Bakhmut.

There is hardly any life left in Bachmut

On Tchaikovsky Street in western Bakhmut there is a monument dedicated to the “Liberators of Donbass”. It commemorates the time when Soviet Red Army soldiers expelled Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht from the region. Now the descendants of these are fighting each other Red Army mutual. In September, dozens of people were still queuing for a food distribution. Now the area seems deserted.

The winter sun throws a pale light on the facades of the multi-storey residential buildings from the days of the Soviet Union, they look even more drained in this light. There is hardly any life left in Bachmut. How many of the original 80,000 inhabitants are still in the city is unknown. One stands lost on the side of the road, a tall, slender man. He seems confused and doesn’t want to leave the city. Isn’t he scared? “I don’t care,” he says.

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Most of the houses on Tchaikovsky Street are damaged, some destroyed. A checkpoint is no longer manned. Someone defiantly planted a Ukrainian flag on him. Someone has attached a banner to a stone. pray for Ukraine, pray for Ukraine, stands on it. Next to it are three small figures, the holy family.

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Some soldiers are loading up a truck. You seem rushed. “Don’t drive into the city center,” says one, “it’s extremely dangerous there, you could be hit by our people or by the Russians.” The impacts and return fire shake the city every second. A machine gun barked not far away. the Russians are said to be in the east of Bakhmut.

Colonel Serhiy Cherevatyj, spokesman for the army group in eastern Ukraine, is therefore urgently hoping for new weapons from the West: “In order to liberate our country more effectively, we need equipment, including more powerful equipment,” says Cherevatyj. “The German Leopard 2 tank is without a doubt one of the best tanks in the world,” it is much better than the Russian equipment, which is based on Soviet models. the leopard will put his country in a position to save the Ukrainians from the violence of the occupiers.

“In January I experienced hell on earth”

In a provincial hospital about 90 kilometers as the crow flies from the battle zone, Oleksandr is recovering from injuries sustained in the fighting for the small town Soledar north of Bachmut. He’s stocky, wears sweatpants, a camouflage jacket, and a wool hat. His leg is in a splint, he broke it when he was in a car accident.

He serves in the border troops, comes from the West of the Ukraine, and volunteered at the start of the Russian raid. When he was transferred to Soledar in early January, there were still 67 men in his unit. Five of them are still fighting. Now the small town is controlled by the Russians. “I’ve read a lot about hell,” says Oleksandr, his gaze unfocused. It looks like he’s looking right through you. “In January I experienced hell on earth.”

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