Russian and Ukrainian soldiers fight for control of the city of Bakhmout, in Donbass in eastern Ukraine. Alex, a Ukrainian fighter, delivers the rare testimony of a fight that turns to the advantage of the Russians.
The battle still rages for control of Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces are close to taking control of this city, which has become a symbol for the control of Donbass. A fight in which the Ukrainian forces face the “greatest difficulties” admits Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who accuses Russia of massively sending its men to certain death with the sole aim of seizing this symbolic locality, despite its strategic importance disputed by experts.
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Alex, a 38-year-old Ukrainian soldier, has been fighting for days and nights to hold this small town. He describes, in a rare testimony, a situation that is difficult to bear: “We’re trying to slow down the Russian attack, but they’re advancing… We’ll probably have to retreat“.
About 5,000 civilians, including 140 children, are still there, according to the authorities and 4,000 according to a spokesperson for the UN Secretary General. Bakhmout, which had 70,000 inhabitants before the war, was largely destroyed, the remaining inhabitants took refuge in basements and shelters.
Not enough ammo
And the danger is constant in this city of Donbass: “The fighting is very different from what it was in the south, because in the south we were constantly advancing.” says Alex. However, this time, it is the Russian forces which encircle this city-fortress, which Volodymyr Zelensky had sworn to hold “as long as possible.”Here, the Russians have been present for a very long time with their separatist Republic. They can supply themselves with weapons, food, ammunition, and even fighters“, he regrets.
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Alex”thank heaven”, because he is not in the trenches. He is a little behind the front, where he fires mortars. Nevertheless, the soldier depicts a very heavy human toll.
“There are many dead and wounded in our battalion. Men are killed and wounded every day and every night…”
Alex, a Ukrainian soldierat franceinfo
An extremely painful situation for the Ukrainian soldier, who believes that soldiers often do not feel sufficiently protected by artillery. There is indeed a lack of ammunition to properly protect his companions: “It’s difficult, especially when you hear that soldiers need artillery help and the commander doesn’t give you the order to shoot. What the fuck is he doing? We can help them now! Give us the order to shoot!'”
The reason: it is necessary to save the stock of ammunition, explains Alex. “On only use them when there are large groups of enemies or to target very important objects. Only then are we allowed to shoot“, he admits. A situation that he judges “terrible“: “It’s really very hard to accept that people can be killed because you didn’t help them.“, regrets Alex, for whom abandoning Bakhmout is only a matter of time.
Bakhmout: the testimony of Alex, a Ukrainian soldier, at the microphone of Maurine Mercier
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