An icy wind swept across the steppes near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The thermometer read minus 17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit). The front line of the war against Russia, where there is fighting for the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar, is only a few kilometers away.
Soldiers from a Ukrainian armored unit trained here in the middle of a field just days after being withdrawn for a brief respite from the fighting at Bakhmut. To reach the spot, they had to walk several kilometers across country.
“So, is it hard to walk in a bulletproof vest? Are your arms and legs freezing yet?” asked Ihor, an officer in the armored unit who accompanied DW to the troops’ deployment site. “Imagine the boys are lying in the frozen trenches where you can’t even light ovens lest their positions be given away,” he said.
DW spoke to the soldiers here during a break. Like Ihor, they didn’t want to give their full names, and not everyone wanted their picture taken. Some have relatives in the Russian-held areas. In some cases, their families didn’t even know they were on the front lines.
“They have such great losses”
According to the officers of this armored unit, the current ratio of forces in the area is about 10 Russian soldiers to one Ukrainian. On this section of the front, the Ukrainian soldiers are primarily opposed by members of the Wagner Group, a private force that has recently been recruiting inmates from Russian prisons.
At Bakhmut and Soledar, positions of Russian and Ukrainian forces are very close, said Oleh, one of the commanders. The soldiers were repeatedly involved in hand-to-hand combat, he said. “We can even hear orders from enemy commanders.”
Ukrainian military near BahkmutImage: O. Indyukhova/DW
Like everyone here, Ihor, an infantryman in his 40s, was visibly exhausted. “The Ukrainian military is fighting at the limits of human strength,” he said, adding they had no chance to sleep. They are under fire day and night and constantly attacked by Russian infantry.
Small groups of 10 to 15 Russian soldiers are moving “in waves” toward Ukrainian positions, right into the crossfire of Ukrainian trenches, another officer said.
“We shoot, they die – there are mountains of corpses on the field. Then the next group will come,” said the officer. “They don’t even help their wounded, they just keep moving towards us.
“It’s hard to take, but we have no choice,” said his teammate Dmytro. “I want and have to defend my country, my family, so that we have a future.”
The legacy of Soviet weapons
Ukrainian forces need more equipment and weapons – preferably of non-Soviet design – to continue their counteroffensive and liberate more heavily held areas, the unit’s commanders say.
Replacing the engine of a Russian T-72 tank Image: O. Indyukhova/DW
The unit’s engineers lead the DW to a couple of Soviet T-72 tanks that need repairs after the fighting. Out in the field there are toolboxes and generators. A truck with a crane pulls the engine block out of one of the tanks.
The engine stopped once during the fight, but “miraculously, the mechanic restarted it and the crew was able to save themselves,” recalled an engineer named Andriy. “See that hole in the engine? There was shooting,” he added.
The mechanics replaced the old block with a new engine. However, the term “new” is relative. All spare parts for the T-72 were made in Russia, and Ukraine stopped buying them a long time ago. “We still have spare parts in stock. But some things are missing. Then we cannibalize our damaged or captured Russian tanks,” said Andriy.
The Ukrainian army should get rid of its old Soviet tanks, in fact all Soviet equipment, he said, arguing that it cannot be compared to modern equipment and does little to protect troops. Deputy Brigade Commander Konstantin agreed. The Russian army can only be defeated with modern technology, and the Ukrainian military needs Western weapons and equipment.
Waiting for Leopard 2 to arrive
The soldiers would like new tanks because they “want to complete the liberation of Ukrainian territory as quickly as possible,” the commanders told DW.
The soldiers here talked about the potential of the German Leopard tanks and what they could do, as well as the armored personnel carriers promised by Western partners – the German Marder and the American Bradley. They also discussed the debate in Germany about the delivery of the tanks. On Wednesday, Germany said it would send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and would re-export any German-made main battle tanks from other countries that want to send them to Ukraine.
“The Leopard is exactly what we need now – the high-precision sights and night vision work in any weather,” Konstantin said, adding that what “Russians are most afraid of is the Leopard.”
Volunteers help Bakhmut despite intense fighting
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Meanwhile, Serhiy was busy welding a radiator that was over 50 years old. The mechanic has been in the army since 2014 and his hands are scratched from work.
“Ukrainian armed forces need Western equipment, preferably with spare parts and logistics for repairs,” he said. Serhiy is convinced that he can also repair western devices, which suggests that the engines are not that different.
“The main thing is that I know how to get everything going again,” he said.
Under pressure, Serhiy and his team repaired several tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and trucks here. The fighting at Bakhmut and Soledar is getting fiercer, so even the engineers can hardly sleep. They say they have to “stand firm”.
“This war is terrible,” said Ihor. But there is no other option for him and his comrades. “We must win so that we can continue to live in freedom,” he concluded.
This article was originally written in Russian.