DONETSK, Ukraine—The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is escalating, and the city of Bakhmut is at the center of it. Even as Ukrainian soldiers fight to save the city, the majority of civilians have fled in fear of the Russian army’s wrath. One soldier who has seen the violence firsthand is “Detcom”, who spoke with The Daily Beast after leaving Bakhmut after a month of fighting.
Detcom is in the 206th battalion of the 241st brigade of Ukraine’s territorial defense. He was sent to Bakhmut on Jan. 25 and recalled the first two weeks being relatively easy, as the brigade held back Russian infantry with ease. However, things quickly changed as the enemy began to use artillery and tanks, leaving Detcom and five others shell-shocked.
The 241st brigade only had grenade launchers and mortars, nowhere near the caliber of weapons to match the Russian’s artillery and tanks. Though they successfully held the lines at times, Russian soldiers made advances. Detcom recalled, “They just pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed with tanks and all that stuff.”
The battle then became even harder as the Russian forces had access to a “load of ammo for artillery from the Cold War era” and “high precision weaponry.” This led to Detcom being ordered to drive to Kyiv to look for a new car for them. While there, he found out that four men he knew had died in Bakhmut.
The losses of his fellow soldiers hit Detcom hard, as he recalled, “We tied up together, we become friends, you know each other.” So far, Detcom’s unit has lost six soldiers—four in Bakhmut, and two over the summer in Kherson, which was liberated from Russian occupation in November.
When asked about the future of Bakhmut, Detcom said that in the “bigger perspective, like in the next few months, if nothing will change in our tactics… they will eventually just overwhelm us because they have a shitload of ammo for artillery, and they have enough manpower just to send us towards our position as meat waves.”
The ongoing conflict in Bakhmut is a testament to the human cost and suffering of war, as civilians flee and Ukrainian soldiers fight to protect their city. The battle’s outcome will have significant implications for the future of Ukraine and the region as a whole.
