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The filtered autumn light glimmers on the massive slag heaps of Donbas, which seem to rise from the unknown, valley by valley.
To avoid being spotted by drones, Philippe, 31, a soldier from the 68th Brigade, floors the accelerator of his jeep. After crossing the remains of the Pokrovsk bridge, destroyed by Russian forces nearly a month ago, he speeds through fields of withered sunflowers.
Philippe heads toward the road to Selydove, where the fiercest fighting for the defence of Pokrovsk, has taken place over the past few weeks. In the opposite direction, dozens of cars and trucks evacuate the last civilians from the city.
Next to him, Oleksandr, 31, points to a cloud of black smoke. “That’s the Selydove front,” he shouts, trying to drown out the sound of the engine. Smoke columns rise on both sides of the road, merging with the sky.
Since the start of summer, Russian forces, fully engaged in their offensive in the Donbas, have made significant progress, bringing their troops within 10kms of Pokrovsk, one of the Ukrainian army’s logistical hubs in the Donbas.
After more than two years of assault, Russian forces managed to capture the fortress of Vuhledar in early October, located southeast of Pokrovsk, which had been protecting the city’s flanks.
Facing an increasingly critical situation, the men of the 68th Brigade were called back here a few weeks earlier to halt the Russian advance.
A Stabilised Front, but for how Long?
Around an old Soviet cannon, a dozen Ukrainian soldiers chat and laugh. Their commander, Taras explains, “We mostly do counter-battery fire”, adding: “Depending on the day, we fire between 20 and 30 shells.”
The 31-year-old finds it hard to predict how long the Ukrainian army will be able to hold off the Russian advance. “All I can tell you is that the situation has been stable for the past few weeks, and we still have a chance to save Pokrovsk.”
The calm conversation is interrupted by a phone call. Taras answers curtly, then briskly heads toward the artillery piece. “Positions!” he shouts. Within seconds, the soldiers of the 68th Brigade, in a perfectly synchronised manoeuvre, ready the artillery piece.
“Armata (armed)!” shouts one soldier. “Ostril (fire)!” responds Taras. As soon as the word is spoken, an explosion shakes the ground, and the cannon appears to be engulfed in flames.
After the shot, they all dive into the trench. “We’re hiding from Russian counter-battery fire,” explains Oleksandr.
“We have to wait five minutes. If the Russians don’t respond within that time, it means they haven’t located us.”
For the first minute, everyone is silent. “It takes 50 seconds for a shell fired from the Russian side to reach its target.”
In the second minute, Philippe lights a cigarette. Once the time passes, a soldier cracks a joke. Everyone bursts into laughter and brushing off the dust clinging to them, they climb back to the surface. “The Russians won’t respond this time,” Oleksandr says with a wink.
US Presidential Elections – ‘I Don’t Have Time to Follow the News’
The conversation quickly shifts to the upcoming US elections. In just a few weeks, Americans will have to choose between Kamala Harris, who, like President Joe Biden, wants to continue supporting Ukraine, and Donald Trump, who has repeatedly stated he would stop all aid to Kyiv.