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Battle of Donbas
'Just hold on’: Front-line medics race against time to save wounded soldiers
Editor’s note: Military medics interviewed for this story are only identified by first name due to security reasons. DONETSK OBLAST – With its sirens blaring through the narrow and bumpy road, an ambulance speeds off to the closest front-line makeshift hospital in northeastern Ukraine. “How many more minutes?” wounded 39-year-old
When dying ‘stops being scary’: Worn out Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas hold off Russian assaults
Editor’s Note: This story is based on interviews with Ukrainian soldiers, conducted in Donetsk Oblast, near the eastern front line, in late March. Some of the soldiers declined to give their last names for security reasons, and are identified by first names and callsigns instead. DONETSK OBLAST – Under the
‘I work, then I cry’: Exhausted medics near Bakhmut fight for every life
Editor’s note: In this story, the Kyiv Independent is not disclosing the Ukrainian soldiers’ full names or their deployed positions due to security concerns amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Donetsk Oblast – At an abandoned building about 20 minutes drive from Bakhmut, wounded Ukrainian soldiers pour in from the
Bakhmut-bound infantry assault troops: 'We are holding on, ready for any scenario’
Editor's note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers' full names or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. Donetsk Oblast – Just a few dozen kilometers from Bakhmut, Ukrainian infantry train to ready themselves for brutal days ahead. Nearly 20 soldiers from
Battle of Bakhmut: Ukrainian soldiers worry Russians begin to ‘taste victory’
Editor's note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers' surnames or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. Some military personnel spoke without the authorization of their commanders or a press officer. DONETSK OBLAST – Just days before heading back to fight in
Brigade that spent 2 months in Bakhmut: ‘It was becoming harder each week’
Editor’s note: The Kyiv Independent is not revealing the soldiers’ full names or the exact location of their deployment due to security concerns amid the ongoing war. DONETSK OBLAST – At a cottage-turned-base some two kilometers from the front lines in Donetsk Oblast, soldiers from Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade lay
Understanding Russia’s relentless assault on Bakhmut
Water-logged trenches, shredded tree lines, and an undulating, colorless landscape of mud: The visual experience of the battles outside Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast have proved to transcend centuries. When Ukrainian machine-gunner Viktor Borinets’ photos of conditions on the first line of defense went viral, the comparisons to the notoriously grim
Sievierodonetsk falls to Russia, fighting shifts to Lysychansk
After weeks of bloody street fighting and months of withering bombardment, Sievierodonetsk is now “fully occupied” by Russian forces, its mayor, Oleksandr Striuk, said on June 25. With Ukrainian troops’ withdrawal from Sievierodonetsk, the fighting now shifts to neighboring Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian-held city in the region. Capturing Sievierodonetsk brings
Ukrainian forces hold off Russians in Donetsk Oblast
KRAMATORSK, Donetsk Oblast – The perfect sunny spring morning in Donetsk Oblast was marred by the constant explosions going off every few minutes a dozen kilometers away. The blasts were varied, coming from artillery and rocket barrages from both sides. A half-dozen soldiers held this outpost a short distance away from
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Inching forward in Bakhmut counteroffensive, Ukraine’s hardened units look ahead to long, grim war