Thread by @dpatrikarakos

THREAD: I spent last week in #Bakhmut, reporting for @unherd. This video was shot in the centre of the city, 200m from the Russian🇷🇺 positions. Listen with sound UP.

I was fortunate to embed with Ukrainian🇺🇦 special forces, here are my thoughts (& photos) from the front here.

Bakhmut itself is a hellscape of destruction. The city is almost deserted save for the odd, usually older, civilian who refuses to leave. 🇷🇺 forces are pounding it relentlessly. They are clearly targeting everything regardless of whether it is civilian or not.

If you want to discover the madness of #Russia’s 🇷🇺invasion of #Ukraine🇺🇦 come to Bakhmut. The battle for the city is now the longest of the war but the city is only of limited strategic value. Once more, Ukrainians are paying in blood for the insane dreams of a modern-day Czar.

“The full contact front is just there,” says one of the #Ukraine🇺🇦 soldiers I am with. “The Russians are just 200 metres down that road. Tomorrow, I will come back and kill them.”

The #Russia🇷🇺 tactics are based on what the soldiers here describe as “meat waves” of soldiers, usually conscripts or prisoners fighting for Wagner who are promised a pardon if they survive more than 6 months. The #🇺🇦Ukrainians often wipe them out. But more always come.

The #Ukraine 🇺🇦soldiers here have been fighting for a long time and they are tired, but morale remains high. They remain convinced they will win.

The #Ukraine 🇺🇦soldiers here always keen to show their appreciation - mainly to 🇺🇸 & 🇬🇧 - for all the help they have received. Here, @posoh_Strannika makes his feelings known.

Drones are changing this war. A soldier tells me: “A while ago we used big, expensive tactical drones, made or the military but now, small and medium-sized civilian drones are becoming separate military units because they can cause great damage to the enemy.”

He continues: "We have learned how to attach small grenades and bombs to them. Now we can send up a small $3,000 Mavik 3 with a $30 grenade — and if you drop it perfectly on a T-90 you can take out a tank that costs millions.”

On the SF base I speak to the commander there. He continues, “if we were to lose Bakhmut, then speaking without emotion, it would not be a strategic defeat, we'd just lose a town. But in the meantime, we tie up a large force of Russians so they cannot proceed in other areas.”

“I think the battle will continue for about one or two months unless there is a major encirclement or something unexpected happens – it will go street by street; the artillery will slowly destroy all the tall buildings & it will descend to urban warfare. It will crawl to an end.”