With the fierce battle for the city of Bakhmut raging behind them, a squad of Ukrainian soldiers tore through a clearing, racing to get out of range of Russian artillery.
But before they could get to safety, they said, they had a flat tire.
The three soldiers – known by the symbols Omar, Chip and Bandit – spent the whole day Friday taking part in Ukrainian offensive operations on the edge of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, shelling tanks and vehicles Russian armored. But after surviving another day of fierce fighting, they worry that a punctured tire could kill them.
Omar, 36, jumped out of the car and used a screwdriver to insert the plug into the hole. In an instant, they turned off again.
The men told their stories Saturday just outside the nearby town of Chasiv Yar, among hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers ordered to attack around Bakhmut in recent days. They say the fighting is often difficult, with many Russians willing to die rather than surrender even under siege.
But they say that every step forward is better than one step back.
For nearly a year, Ukraine was simply trying to hold on to Bakhmut as Russian forces closed in on the city from both sides while dumping waste – bloody chunks – into what was once a boiling salt mining city. motion. of 80,000.
Over time, Bakhmut has taken on enormous importance: a symbol of defiance to Ukraine and the determination of Russian leaders to win a small victory in a little-known corner of eastern Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian forces launched a series of coordinated counterattacks for the first time and within days recaptured territory north and south of the city that took months for Russian forces to capture. . The Ukrainian soldiers hope that they have now turned the tide of the battle and can continue to move forward.
“Things will get better when we start deporting these Russians,” said Omar, who asked to be identified only by his call sign according to military protocol.
But inside Bakhmut, soldiers fighting to hold onto some of the last destroyed buildings they control in the western corner of the ruined city on Saturday said it remained a place of untenable violence. understand.
“It is too early to talk about the successes in the city itself,” said a member of the platoon rotated out of Bakhmut. He was one of 16 soldiers waiting for military trucks in Chasiv Yar after a month-long tour. “We need more Javelin,” he said, referring to the US-made missiles supplied to Ukraine. “Russian tanks are giving us nightmares.”
Chasiv Yar, about six miles west of Bakhmut, was under siege as the two sides exchanged artillery and rockets. It is now Ukraine’s next line of defense should the Russians take Bakhmut and continue westward.
Hanna Mailar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said in a statement on Saturday evening: “Our troops are gradually advancing in two directions on the outskirts of Bakhmut. She said the hostilities made it impossible to give precise details of the state of the fighting but claimed that the Ukrainians “are destroying the enemy and have taken many prisoners”.
“The situation in the city is more complicated,” she said.
Since December alone, the United States estimates that more than 20,000 Russian troops have been killed in skirmishes in Ukraine, many around Bakhmut, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. this month. He said an additional 80,000 people were injured.
The Ukrainians are now looking to exploit those losses by attacking positions around the city they lost during the winter and attempting to encircle Russian forces inside the ruins of Bakhmut.
Russian forces control more than 90% of the city, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials, but the Ukrainians are preventing them from taking the last piece of land and entering Chasiv Yar.
Under the shelter of a dilapidated bus stop at Chasiv Yar, a platoon of soldiers rotated out of Bakhmut unfazed as artillery and rockets rumbled nearby. They have faced much worse.
The commander of the 24th Motorized Rifle Brigade, who is known as Prince, said on Saturday that after a brief tactical pause, Russian forces launched a fierce assault on the city once. again.
“Artillery, missiles and air strikes did not stop for even a minute,” he said. “Every meter of the city is currently under shelling.”
Brigade released a photo of the devastation taken by a drone on Saturday that it said captured the killing of Bakhmut. The shape of the foundations of what were once homes and businesses was shrouded in a thick fog that the brigade said was smoke from fires and shelling. The photo’s authenticity cannot be independently confirmed, but it tracks reports from people who have been in the devastated city.
Ukrainian soldiers say that over the past week, sometimes twice a night, the Russians have used incendiary bullets to force them out of their positions.
Ukrainians consider the bombs to be phosphorus munitions, which are prohibited by international law when used against civilians but not against military targets and can burn at temperatures of more than 1,400 degrees F.
The smell of fire and smoke was strong in Chasiv Yar on Saturday as shells rocked the valley below. There are new impact craters on the streets around town.
There were only a handful of civilians, mostly elderly people, on the streets. They continued their work as a steady stream of armored vehicles and tanks rumbled past, into battle.
“We feel very sorry for them,” Marcello, one of the soldiers, said of the few civilians left in Bakhmut. “There was a 92-year-old woman who was injured, we put her on a stretcher and helped her get out.”
As they waited for their trip to safer ground, they learned that Russian troops outside that city were reported to be suffering a series of setbacks.
“Finally,” said one soldier.
