Ukrainian soldiers are protecting the eastern industrial city of Bakhmut as Moscow-backed separatist forces in the war-battered Donetsk region advance after recapturing a series of villages nearby.
Bakhmut — a wine-producing and salt-mining city, on the main road from Donetsk to the capital Kyiv, as soon as home to 70,000 people — might be a major prize if Russia has any desire of securing the location after invading Ukraine in February.
Intense shelling was sounding from the direction of Otradovka, Veselaya Dolina, and Zaitsevo, which are largely in the hands of forces allied with the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic now annexed by Russia.
A Ukrainian artillery commander named Serhiy instructed Al Jazeera Ukrainian soldiers were in Bakhmut because “it is a key point”.
“Our task is the destruction of places where there is a concentration of manpower and batteries of firing positions,” he stated.
The sound of explosions sounded through the empty streets of Bakhmut as Ukrainian forces engage on the war front
Another Ukrainian soldier known as Nikolai stated the Russians have been “throwing all their forces on the city”.
“Artillery, air power, even helicopters are attacking our positions,” stated Nikolai. “They try to approach during night time and day. And it’s their elite units and mercenaries. There are no regular Russians soldiers left.”
Deadly game of hide and seek’
Ukraine’s army in latest weeks has driven back against Russian forces throughout the the front lines in the south and the east, including in parts of Donetsk. Western weaponry has helped the Ukrainian military win back more territory in the past month than Russian forces have taken in 5 months.
The defence of Bakhmut, however, stays one Ukraine’s biggest challenges at the eastern front line.
Reporting from Bakhmut, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford defined the scenario as a “deadly game of hide and seek” with each aspects launching attacks.
Pointing to a mobilised cannon targeting Russian supply and artillery positions as far as 30km (12 miles) beyond Bakhmut, Stratford stated, “It takes round forty seconds for the shell to reach its target. The trajectory is adjusted after information from drones and spotters monitoring the target zone is received.”
Russian bombing has continued over Bakhmut for weeks, forcing most people to evacuate
“The shelling never stops,” stated a nearby girl in the city. “I live here to look after my mother. She is old and frail. Things are becoming a lot worse.”
How are we able to leave?’
Bakhmut citizens who stay behind are trying to stockpile meagre supplies of meals and water before the battle ahead.
Igor Maksymenko’s water barrel sprang a leak as it tumbled from his wire trolley but he controlled to right it, determined to bring it to an apartment block still housing 25 people.
“Sometimes they [Russian-backed forces] fire really close, next to that store, just above our heads, and shrapnel mixed with dust sprays everywhere,” he stated. “But still we maintain on lugging it. How can we leave? To where?”
Ukraine has made lightning-brief territorial gains in the east and south. On September 30, Ukrainian forces advancing from the captured city of Izyum surrounded the strategic city of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region and seized it the following day after Russian personnel retreated.
The advance of Ukrainian troops has undermined a claim from the Kremlin last week that it formally annexed Donetsk, neighbouring Luhansk, and the southern areas of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
The 4 territories create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed through Moscow in 2014, and together are about 20 percentage of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisation of Russian military reservists ultimate month to boost manpower at the the front lines in Ukraine.
Under growing strain from his very own supporters and others, Putin endured reshuffling his army’s leadership.
The state-run TASS information agency reported a new commander was put in place in Russia’s eastern military district.
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