Bakhmut, Ukraine
CNN
—
Excavators gouge huge chunks of rich brown soil at the roadside and deposit the soil at the edge of an extended trench.
Soldiers scoop dirt out of trenches well inside the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
An officer in charge who identifies himself only as Valentin insists that the trenches were merely a precautionary measure and that fighting continues at Soleder, just 15 kilometers (9 miles) to the north.
“With weapons and tanks and guns, they wouldn’t come here,” he says.
Soledar’s status remains unknown. A few days ago, Evgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian private military company Wagner, announced that his group controls the entire Soleder region. Ukrainian authorities dispute this claim. This CNN team has visited the Soledar region several times recently and has confirmed that the Ukrainian military is defending it despite various claims.
Fighting around Bakhmut had been raging for months, but eased slightly as Russian forces concentrated their forces on Soledar. It is widely believed that Russia will resume its offensive to recapture Bakhmut if the fighting is in its final stages.
Ukrainian officials say only 10% of the pre-war population may remain in Bakhmut. On the west side of the city, which slopes from Russian positions into an invisible valley, some civilians are trying to do what they can.
They gather to receive a bag of logs made from the residue of the sunflower harvest for the stove. Down the road, crowds line up large plastic bottles and jugs to fill the well.
In the mornings, the few stalls set up tables along the few roads leading into the city, selling fish, bread, grilled meat, coffee and tea.
There, he met a grizzled, bearded Serhi of unknown age, who only gave him his first name. He lives on food from soldiers and volunteers, but he cannot afford to leave, he said. Although he claimed to be a veteran, he said he was unable to receive a pension because all normal public services had ceased to function.
“I live like an animal,” he told us.
As we approached the front, we met Galina. She had returned from the other side of the river, the site of her most intense fighting, and had attended services at the local Baptist church.
Dressed in a thick blue cloak and a white scarf around her head to keep out the cold, she seemed oblivious to the world. But given the roar of fighting nearby, you’d think it was a peaceful, snowy January afternoon.
“What did you pray for?” I asked.
“We prayed for peace and for God to save us and our city, and for peace throughout Ukraine,” she replied.
Promising a good day with a smile and a wave, she set off.
Near the river that divides the town, and closer to the battle, I see a lone figure walking on one leg on a crutch in the middle of a road strewn with broken glass and twisted metal.
I greeted a man named Dumitro. “He only has two questions,” he said, taking a deep breath. One of his crutches had yellow tape on it, and his other crutch had blue tape, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
I asked him why he was still here. Combat was imminent and there was little chance of getting to safety in a hurry.
“This is my land,” he said. “I will not leave.”
Second question: what happened to your leg?
“That was a long time ago, when I was young,” he replied. “That’s it,” he added.
Dmitro, like Galina, seemed deaf to the sounds around him. Putting on his crutches, he stumbled around a corner onto a street that was clearly visible from the Russian positions on the other side of the river. Another blast shook the ground. He dragged his feet without stopping.
Went back one block and met Svetlana. She wandered the streets in a spotted tan sweater and a maroon wool hat. Her cheeks looked brown after weeks of not washing them.
“I put food on the fire and chopped wood,” she said in the most outspoken manner.
Last spring, Svetlana said she fled her home in Raiman, a town north of Bakhmut that had been occupied by Russian forces until late September last year. She and her husband moved into what they say is a friend’s apartment. They may be crouching, but who is checking?
Is she worried that if Soledar falls to Russia, Bakhmut will be next?
“What happens?” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
On a hilltop overlooking the city, Ukrainian anti-aircraft soldiers were preparing to open fire on Russian positions. Manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, their guns, nicknamed “Pilot”, commanders said their large bullets spread shrapnel in a radius of 50 meters (54 yards), making them an effective weapon against troops. I have. ”
His men gave him that nickname because he attended flight school in Florida and owned a company that sold helicopter engines. added that he had to pay out of his own pocket.
Like others in Bakhmut, he claims that the Ukrainian army still holds its position in Soledar. He expects the fighting to intensify here.
“Bakhmut’s situation is difficult,” he said. “Ukrainian army is strong, we will fight for Bakhmut”
After some time, the command fires.
Fire and smoke shoot up from the barrel as four bullets zoom into the air.
The point of impact is out of sight, on a hill, and the target is a Russian trench.
Four distant booms echo through the city.
