The front lines where Ukraine and its allies had hoped for a summer breakthrough now epitomize the bleak, dark winter ahead — of Russian resurgence and Kyiv’s mounting losses.
“As we like to say in the army, the plan was good on paper, but we forgot about the trenches,” joked Ihor, a commander in the 15th National Guard. CNN is only using his first name to protect his identity for security reasons. Speaking with CNN deep in a command post in Orikhiv, in southern Ukraine, he is interrupted by panicked noises in the radio room.
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The Ukrainians face relentless waves of Russian convict recruits, properly trained and equipped, backed by armor, and often – they believe – given a mix of drugs to bolster their attack. Ukrainian soldiers showed CNN drone footage of an injured Russian, his legs severed, yet a ghoulish smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the pain.
Those fighting in besieged Ukrainian trenches say they now face another threat: the use of gas as a weapon. Nine incidents have been recorded in recent weeks in this area, one Ukrainian combat medic told CNN, in which a caustic and flammable gas had been dropped by drones onto Ukrainian lines, causing one fatality. The gas is used to cause panic and followed by conventional shelling or drone attacks, soldiers impacted said.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The front lines where Ukraine and its allies had hoped for a summer breakthrough now epitomize the bleak, dark winter ahead — of Russian resurgence and Kyiv’s mounting losses.
The Ukrainians face relentless waves of Russian convict recruits, properly trained and equipped, backed by armor, and often – they believe – given a mix of drugs to bolster their attack.
Ukrainian soldiers showed CNN drone footage of an injured Russian, his legs severed, yet a ghoulish smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the pain.
“Usually, more meat means more mince,” Ihor said, a reference to Russian generals throwing their forces into the “meatgrinder” of the front line without concern for their losses.
In a tiny bunker closer to the front line, CNN observed a Ukrainian drone unit, part of Ihor’s command, trying to hunt Russians at a nearby crossroads.
The crisis in US and EU funding for Ukraine is at the forefront of their minds here, as a series of grainy drone images show bare tree lines, injured Russian soldiers lolling in a crater, and a landscape so cruel it seems remarkable any human life emerges from it.
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