Russia announced on Tuesday April 19 that it had carried out a dozen air and missile strikes in eastern Ukraine, starting, according to kyiv, “the battle for Donbass” feared for weeks. Report from a battalion on a front line in the Donbass.
With our special envoys, Clea Broadhurst and Jad El Khoury
“ We are on the front line. Here we have two checkpoints. Our enemies are 750 meters from us. Aleksandr is the battalion commander on a front line in southern Donbass. The second phase of the offensive has indeed begun according to him. ” The last two days, the shelling has become very strong, more and more frequent. Clearly the Russians are bringing out the heavy artillery. »
The bombardments are getting closer, the soldiers are getting ready. Serguey, the battalion’s medical officer, hammers home how to provide first aid every day. ” I teach them how to make bandages, and all the medical basics they need to know. But also, I show them the routes to evacuate the front if necessary. I control everything. If a soldier is injured somewhere, I take care of him until he is evacuated. »
This seemingly exhausted soldier may be prepared for war, but it still seems insane to him. “I lost my best friend here a few weeks ago. It’s very hard to realize that I will never see him again. Civilians experience all of this. Look at Kramatorsk, at Mariupol… What did they do? These are just people who lived a quiet life. »
Now that a new phase has begun, the soldiers on this front line await the Russians, under the echo of the bombardments.