The weather in Bakhmut tricks the senses, sunny and warm — almost serene.
But a deafening blast of outgoing artillery from the critical eastern Ukrainian city shook that notion out of whack, as Ukrainian soldiers on Wednesday launched offensives to try to retake positions from Russian forces.
Three men are seen running out of town, one with a microwave strapped to his back.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has been going on for nine months. It’s only when you get down to the city that you really get a sense of the devastation and devastation that Vladimir Putin’s invasion has wrought on this city.
Our guide is the Ukrainian military doctor, who goes by the surname ‘Katrusya’. In tinted sunglasses and fatigues, he brings our entourage downtown at breakneck speed.
Flashing through the windows is a ghost town.
“For the last two months, the Russians have been trying to break through the city’s defenses and they haven’t succeeded,” he tells us between cigarettes.
He took us to see a building that had just been bombed. Our car hadn’t even come to a complete stop as another artillery shell landed nearby. We scrambled for cover as more and more artillery rained down and swarmed close for about 20 minutes.
Attacks are normal, Katrusya says as she leans against a wall – a picture of composure – as we take cover from incoming shells.
“Artillery attacks are flying daily, so it’s never quiet here. Other parts of the city get hit multiple times a day,” he says.
A handful of residents are still on the streets of Bakhmut. The buildings have no windows. The streets are full of craters and industrial waste bins have merged into small garbage tanks.
Those who remain seem to live in a parallel universe. They’re out on their bikes, running and old women dragging shopping carts behind them, though which stores are open seems a mystery.
Sergey is one of those residents of Bakhmut who still walk the streets. Asked if he is worried about the bombings, he replies: “What are you afraid of, man? Everything will be fine.”
He then looks away, almost as if he doesn’t really believe his words.
Katrousia says heavy fighting has claimed the lives of many soldiers and civilians here. “I can’t give you the number, but there are many… there are many wounded on both sides and also many dead.”
She lost her husband fighting the Russians at Bahamut just a month ago. Only antidepressants mask the pain, he says.
The race for Bahamut has become increasingly fierce in recent days. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky called the fighting in the city “the most difficult”.
The importance of the city cannot be overemphasized.
Bakhmut is located at a fork that points to two other strategic cities in the Donestk region: Konstantinivka to the southwest and Kramatorsk and Slovyansk to the northwest. All three are key to Vladimir Putin’s absolute control of the region.
The scenes in Bakhmut, however, are different from those in the rest of the country, where Ukraine has largely been able to fight back and even gain ground in recent weeks as Russian forces retreated in late September.
Here, Russian forces have made small, steady gains, largely thanks to the Wagner Group, which analysts see as a Kremlin-sanctioned private military company.
Reports on social media and Russian state media say Wagner mercenaries are on the outskirts of Bakhmut, in a small village called Ivangrad.
On the Telegram social network, Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, admitted that the resistance from the city is stiff.
“The situation near Bakhmut is consistently difficult, Ukrainian troops are putting up decent resistance, and the legend of Ukrainians escaping is just a legend. Ukrainians are guys with the same iron balls as us,” he wrote.
Katrusia says she has faced Wagner’s fighters and despite their international reputation, they are more like mercenaries, she says.
“It’s rubbish. There are some very well-trained professional fighters, but most of them found themselves fighting this war by mistake for money or for the ability to get out of jail,” he said.
In September, video emerged showing Prigozhin recruiting prisoners from Russian prisons for Wagner, offering a promise of leniency in exchange for six months of fighting in Ukraine.
Despite her heartbreak, Katrousia’s spirit is not weakened. The one goal is victory.
“The price for Ukraine will be huge,” he acknowledges. “We will lose the best of the best, the most motivated and trained, but we will definitely win, we have no choice, it is our country. We will absolutely win.”
