The Russian army is trying to advance from Bakhmut towards Chasiv Yar. Paratroopers of the 217th Parachute Regiment, who killed Ukrainian civilians in Hostomel, Bucha and Irpin, are taking part in the offensive. However, our tankers and artillerymen from the 42nd Separate Mechanised Brigade stop their assaults.
The new video of the Ukrainian Witness project features tankers and artillerymen of the 42nd Brigade in the Bakhmut area between Chasiv Yar and the temporarily occupied Khromove.
"The Russians are attacking the infantry positions with equipment and manpower," the soldiers say. - "The equipment is lightly armoured, the manpower is moving in threes and fours. They are taking advantage of the weather (the Russians launched an assault when a blizzard started), but we have been here for a while."
The guys told us how they ended up at the front.
"They won't send us to war right away," says a soldier named Dmytro. - "You have to go through training first. Immediately after these words, our soldiers receive a radio message that the Russians may start shelling. The film crew and the soldiers head for cover.
"I was riding my bike and was stopped by the guys from the TCC, they handed me a summons, - says a tanker with the call sign Speculator. - "I was not happy about it, but if you don't plan to hide all your life, you have no choice. Before the Great War, the man grew herbs - dill and parsley. "When the war is over, I won't be here," he says. - "I will return to what I was doing - to speculation. His colleague with the call sign Paloma was a mechanic at a petrol station until 24 February. "I worked at a concrete plant in Kyiv," the man says, "Then I got a job at a petrol station, and from there I was immediately taken to the army.
The soldiers say that after the war is over... they will never eat stew. "I'll eat homemade, but I won't eat the one from the store," says Paloma. - "Mivina (Ukrainian instant noodles) is sacred, but I've had enough of stew in the forest.”