Putin’s annexation of parts of Ukraine will fail, says Ukrainians at eastern front
As Russia’s Vladimir Putin declared ownership of sovereign Ukrainian territory, issued nuclear threats and mobilized hundreds of thousands of reservists, the Ukrainian military’s response on the Eastern Front remains unchanged – they will fight for every last inch of soil.
We visit frontline posts in the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk – one of four areas that President Putin is now illegally claiming as his own. Our journey is done in stages.
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We slow to cross the Bakhmutovka River, speed up to cover exposed ground, then weave through a dangerous curtain of power lines below. For the last few meters we run. At all times, the firepower is constant – part of the familiar soundscape of combat.
But as we approach the frontline soldiers inside the battle-marked building, we hear something else – the sound of small arms fire. The two sides are so close that they can aim each other with a rifle.
The Russians are about 400 meters (437 yards) in front of us, and are trying very hard to get in. We are warned that there is a Russian sniper in the back.
At his post below ground, where a Ginger Cat accompanies him, the unit commander is sad and blunt.
“It’s very difficult here now,” says 31-year-old Oleksandr. “It’s tense. Everyone is under pressure. The enemy is very close, but we are standing and fighting back.”
He dismissed President Putin’s recent referendum as an “illusion” and said Ukrainians would not be directed at the barrel of a Russian gun.
“In my view, those referendums will not change anything. We will fight Putin’s army and get them back from our land,” he says.
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Alexander knows the value of war – and not just fighting his own battles.
“My brother died,” he tells me, “but I don’t know where and when it happened, because he was drafted from a different region by a different drafting office. He died as well as some of my Colleagues, officers who trained with me. I learned that they were also dead. So, I have lost family and friends.”
He has not lost the will to fight. Neither is 25-year-old Roman, who is operating a major weapon in this war – a drone.
Roman is upstairs in a bombed-out room, littered with rubble and broken glass, where two more cats are in residence. The screensaver on his phone is a picture of his five-month-old son, Kirillo, who was born after the war broke out. He has seen his only child once.
“I see her in photos and videos, not in real life,” he says. “It’s hard, but it’s also hard to imagine what the Russians could do to my family if they reached out to them.
“I don’t want them to do what they did in Buka. I lived in Kyiv, and I clearly understand how women feel. If we are weak, they will come for our families.”
Here in Russia there is concern about mobilization. In the coming months, the Kremlin will send many more troops to the war.
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It is unclear how well trained or well equipped they will be, but Ukrainians are concerned about quantity, not quality.
They are already outnumbered. At the Battle of Bakhmut he faced an endless supply of Russian fighters. According to army spokeswoman Irina, there were five consecutive waves in August.
“They settle down, and they don’t stop. They don’t react to gunfire or shelling. Some of the prisoners of war we caught were from Wagner [a Russian mercenary group]. They had better weapons,” Irina says.
Soldiers here believe that Russia is fighting hard for victory at Bakhmut due to its recent humiliating defeats in the northeast and south, where Ukraine reclaimed some 6,000 km (2,317 sq mi) of territory. .
For now, Bakhmut is stuck around President Putin’s neck. This is a hindrance in its bid to swallow up all the mineral-rich region known as Donbass – which includes Donetsk and Luhansk. After failing to completely capture the Donbass, he has captured both territories.
As he tries to conquer Bakhmut – once home to about 70,000 people – the city is filled with life.
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Putin’s annexation of parts of Ukraine will fail, says Ukrainians at eastern front
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
