From the trenches: Ukrainian soldiers offer insight into daily defence against Russian attacks
Ukrainian servicemen have given an insight into life in the trenches of Ukraine, with the soldiers manning positions in the eastern Donetsk region trying to hold out and repel Russian attacks on a daily basis.
"Our job is to detect the movements of the enemies' vehicles, aim, fire at them and then drive away," one soldier, known as Dymtro, said.
The commander of an infantry unit, who gave his nom-de-guerre as Bodia, said: "They creep in at night. But we have thermal cameras. Our brave infantry soldiers can detect them with thermal cameras and open fire at them."
The soldiers don't know when the end will be in sight but they insist that they remain resolute.
"We are holding out. They fire at us, we fire back at them. There are tough days, there are quiet days. But we are in high spirits anyway," another soldier, known as Andrii, said.
Bodia added: "They creep in, fire and try to exhaust us. Then they evaluate the situation and can move forward for a little more. Meanwhile, we try to let them get closer to us so that we can hit them more precisely."
The soldiers must stay determined as they continue to contend with the daily battle, both physically and mentally.
Ukrainian military commanders say their own counter-offensive, backed by newly delivered Western tanks and other military hardware is not far off.
They have, however, stressed the importance of holding places like Bakhmut and inflicting losses in the meantime.
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