In a foxhole with outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers

In a grey, compact trench in eastern Ukraine, a group of soldiers is looking to spot Russians making advances through the sprawling green field in front of them.

Just minutes before, two men in their battalion were seriously wounded trying to repel the enemy. Less than a kilometre away lies the town of Pavlivka, which has changed hands multiple times in the nine-months since Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian soldiers have largely been pushed out of the town, and are now looking to hold everything to its north and west. This is a forward infantry position in the southern front of the war in the eastern Donbas region, the scene of multiple brutal battles every day.

Soldiers with the 68th brigade move along the trenches at a forward infantry position in the Donbas oblast. Credit: Kate Geraghty

It has been the job of the 68th Brigade to hold the war here for eight months, allowing the army to make its successful counter-offensives in the north-east and south of the country.

We are given access to front-line positions along this line for a whole day, and the exchange of artillery and gunfire does not let up. Ukrainian and Russian drones crisscross the sky, trying to spot each other’s movements.

When we are about a kilometre from Russian soldiers, two Grad missiles are fired in our general direction.

“It’s a lot worse than it was before. They are trying to advance all the time,” says 31-year-old soldier Demyan Melnychok, who uses shoulder-fired Javelin missiles to take out Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles. “There’s serious fighting here. They’re using a lot of Grads and incendiary munitions, artillery, tanks – everything.

“I came here eight months ago and have been fighting here since.”

After leaving the army in 2014, Melnychok worked in metal construction. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion of Ukraine, Melnychok decided to learn how to use a Javelin.

His section is a few hundred metres from the spotting position. When the spotters see a Russian vehicle moving ahead, they call it. It’s his job to fire a missile at it.

Demyan Melnychok, who fires Javelin missiles at Russian vehicles on the orders of his brigade’s spotters.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“My task is whenever there is an enemy vehicle coming out, I have to destroy it,” he says. “We can’t let the enemy break through here. They have a lot of vehicles and they’re pushing hard here.

“The problem is once you shoot and hit a vehicle, the Grads start coming in, so you just have to hide. They’re very afraid of Javelins, so every time we use one – that’s when they start shelling us and hitting us with Grad missiles.”

A few hundred metres away is the battalion’s mortar section. Just before we arrive, the soldiers fire at least two mortars at the Russians. We watch them shoot a Finnish-made mortar over the field towards the enemy position. Minutes later, there appears to be artillery firing back in our general direction.

A soldier with the 68th brigade’s mortar section readies a mortar.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“When the soldiers in front of us call, we then do the important job [of firing at the positions],” says the section’s 30-year-old commander, who goes by the codename “Italian” because he was living in Italy before the invasion.

A few kilometres back from the front line at a stabilising point, it is the job of medics and doctors to treat wounded soldiers from the front line. Ruslan Lebed, the 31-year-old head doctor, says they have been “very busy” in recent weeks. “The injuries include gunfire and shrapnel wounds,” he adds.

In a nearby bunker, soldiers are watching live footage of Russian positions from secret cameras, keeping an eye on any movement in and around Pavlivka. A young tech-savvy soldier is also intercepting radio communication between Russian soldiers to find out about any imminent attack on the 68th’s positions. “If we catch the enemy saying anything about us, we have to make a decision instantly on what to do next,” he says.

The operations room of the 68th Brigade in Ukraine’s Donestk region.Credit: Kate Geraghty

It is then up to the battalion’s commander, Major Vyacheslav Kokhanov, and his senior officers to decide on the next move.

Kokhanov has a bloodied bandage around his left hand from a shrapnel blast a few days ago, but insists “it’s hardly an injury”.

The 68th Brigade is largely made up of volunteer soldiers who decided to enlist after the invasion on February 24. Kokhanov is no different.

The 47-year-old had served in the military between 1993 and 2001, but then had a successful career as a banking and telecommunications executive before running his own energy company. Before the war, he did not consider rejoining the army, even when Putin annexed Crimea and helped separatists in the Donbas declare their own “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Major Vyacheslav Kokhanov, right, battalion commander with the 68th Brigade, talks with his officers at their forward headquarters.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“I knew the Donetsk and Luhansk regions very well,” he says. “The locals over there basically gave up without fighting. I did not want to fight for the territory that the local people had no desire to fight for themselves.”

But all that changed. Two hours after missiles started landing in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, Kokhanov took his family to a safer location in the west of the country and rejoined the army.

“I did not expect this to happen,” he says. “I had a successful business, other things to deal with. But I realised that unless we stop this, nobody can live peacefully.”

He says part of his brigade’s task is trying to win over the predominantly Russian-speaking local population, but only about half of them are more loyal to Ukraine than Russia. He says many aren’t actively sabotaging the efforts of Ukrainian soldiers, “they are just waiting” for Russia.

“These people have a Soviet mentality. This region is not very pro-Europe, they lag in development compared to the rest of Ukraine,” he says. “There were some attempts to provide information about our military positions to the Russians, but these attempts have been stopped.

“As for the rest of the population, we provide any possible help to them: restore electricity, supply water or extinguish fires, or help to relocate people ... provide medical assistance and supply food. We do not force anyone to do anything here. We help them, and it’s up to them to decide who is better.”

He says Russia’s offensive against his brigade has been brutal and his soldiers need more armoured vehicles to hit back.

“At the moment, there are 60,000 Russian soldiers in the Donetsk region, while there are only about 20,000 of us,” he says.

“An offensive is only possible if there is at least one-to-one ratio, although, ideally, that would be three to one. They have so much artillery and ammunition. Unlike us, who have artillery but lack ammunition.”

Anton (right) who is in charge at a forward infantry position with the 68th brigade fires a gun at the enemy line.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Kokhanov says he believes Russia is redeploying about 15,000 soldiers previously stationed in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the eastern Donetsk offensive.

A day after we leave, Russia’s military claims it has “completely liberated” Pavlivka.

Outmanned and outgunned, the soldiers of the 68th Brigade fight on.

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