This report focuses on the recently liberated village of Blahodatne in Donetsk region. Listen to what our soldiers have to say about fighting the occupiers (or more accurately, a gang of convicts).
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) June 17, 2023
🎥 YouTube @UkrainianWitness pic.twitter.com/XlvYZCNQcW
P'yatykhatky ✅ fighting in the outskirts
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) June 17, 2023
To all Residents of Tokmak, Berdyansk, Melitopol and all other temporary occupied cities of 🇺🇦#Ukraine, hold on #ЗСУ is on the way! pic.twitter.com/knJm5FZm2G
— Cloooud |🇺🇦 (@GloOouD) June 17, 2023
Gennadiy may be wounded in hospital, but he has still found a way to participate in Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive. Sitting on a crowded ward at a medical facility in Dnipro, the commander unexpectedly pulls out his mobile to reveal live footage of green fields and tree lines in a newly contested part of the front.
Progress has been measured, acknowledges the wounded veteran, saying it took 10 days for Ukrainian soldiers to capture Russian trenches in the next tree line. "Why did it take so long to take that one position? We wanted to minimise our losses," he says, showing me the location in question by switching to the Deep State mapping app, used to track developments in the frontline.
But the surprise, given the importance attached to drones by Ukraine's military, is that the soldiers themselves have to fund the effort because the army cannot afford them. "We pay up to 70% of our salaries to buy drones," said Shved, particularly citing the new "first-person view" attack drones.
Firm data about casualty numbers is not provided by the Ukrainians, however, although the grim reality is that attackers expect to suffer more losses in war. Morale nevertheless remains relatively high even among the wounded, and many in the Dnipro medical facility keep up with military developments constantly, texting, calling and even fundraising for buddies at the front.
They say the counterattack remains at its preliminary stages – "we haven't seen much of a fight involving western tanks yet," Shved argues, and only modest numbers have so far been seen on the battlefield – but despite the gradual progress so far, the group argue it is going better than the slow rate of village capture might suggest.
It is their job to be optimistic, given what is at stake. But they also know they are in danger. "We are drone operators, we are target number one, high priority for the Russians. So as soon as we are detected, they will shoot everything into our location," says Shved, arguing near-misses are not uncommon.
"I have no doubt we will defeat them," adds Spielberg, "but I don't know if I can survive until that time."
‘It’s 21st-Century Warfare’: On Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Frontline | Ukraine | The Guardian
