Russia's war in Ukraine
Ukrainian service members ride a military vehicle near the front line in the newly liberated village Neskuchne in Donetsk region, Ukraine on June 13. Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters
The bangs of incoming and outgoing shelling are the soundtrack of Ukraine’s frontline. But its president warned this week that the counteroffensive should not be seen through the lens of a Hollywood movie.
Just outside the newly liberated villages of Neskuchne and Storozheve, Ukrainian soldiers take shelter in destroyed houses vacated by the Russians, waiting for orders to fire mortars at enemy lines.
It’s busy. The men of the 35th Marine Brigade transfer newly arrived American-made 120-millimeter mortar rounds to their temporary hideout. They clean and prepare them for launch and scribble messages on the shells for their enemy. Another group get the coordinates and adjust the mortar for better aim.
The drone flying overhead is their eyes on the enemy line across the fields. When they hear the buzz of the drone engine, the soldiers occasionally peek up to check if it’s theirs or the Russians’.
Then they wait, sometimes for hours, to fire.
The sounds cloud the blue sky. The bangs of outgoing artillery and mortar rounds cut through the tranquility of abandoned fields. Shells whizz through the sky in the familiar whistle of incoming rounds along with the successive pops of Russian grad rockets. The booms of impact intersperse the non-stop exchange of fire.
Occasionally, a soldier flinches when the sound gets louder and closer.
“There are moments that you want to hide, but you just sit and wait,” says Yuri, a UK-trained soldier, resting in a small protective trench. It is his third day on the job.
But like the long waits of the soldiers, the Ukrainian counteroffensive is a slow grind.
Read the full story here.
Source: CNN
