Bakhmut – Near the front line of the devastated city of Bakhmut, Ukraine is preparing for its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russia. Some of the Ukrainian soldiers posted there say it has, in fact, already begun. Embedded with Ukraine’s 28th brigade, FRANCE 24’s Catherine Norris Trent, Johan Bodin and Dmytro Kovalchuk filed this report.
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“Copy that, I’ve got your drone and memory cards,” a soldier says into a walkie-talkie.
Ukrainian troops are using drones to spy on Russian troops digging fresh trenches around the now-ruined city and are preparing to hit their positions with mortars. The aim is to destroy the Russian defences as they are being built.
“The drone’s still looking for targets … and then we will correlate the exact position and then we’ll fire,” explains Kostiantyn, who recently returned from military training in Britain.
The brigade has been stationed near Bakhmut since early December and was recently equipped with fresh ammunition.
It currently fires up to 50 mortars a day and has consolidated a series of small gains over the past month. And this morning is no exception.
“We hit a unit of soldiers next to a small bunker; they had just started to dig it,” says a senior lieutenant known as Koleso.
When asked about Ukraine’s wider counteroffensive, some of the troops in the 28th brigade say it is already under way.
“It’s already started,” says Horynych, another senior lieutenant.
“Last month we advanced 100 metres, then 300 metres, then further … it’s also like that all along this front line.”
The Russians “came here with lots of equipment and tanks, so you can’t push them back easily”.
But little by little, they fight on.
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