‘This is a critical time’: Ukrainian soldiers pay a heavy price as they fight Russian barrage in the Donbas

The broadcasts start late at night, messages from the Russians enticing the Ukrainian soldiers to surrender, followed by threats of death if they refused, and then a funeral march. There would then be vastly different acoustics after a period of silence – massed artillery barrages.

This has been the pattern of many of the battles taking place in the Donbas, now the fiercest arena in this war, the biggest land offensive in Europe since the Second World War, say the Ukrainian government, and one that will determine the fate of the country.

Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that “Russian wants to destroy the Donbas” and that Moscow's campaign is taking an appalling toll of lives among civilians and the military – with up to 100 soldiers being killed every day. The number of injured is not known, but, using an accepeted battlefield average is three times more fighters are wounded rather than killed, pointing towards significant casualties,

After failing to take the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv, the country’s second city, Russian forces are focusing on the region where they have two separatist republics, Donetsk and Luhansk. Seizing Ukrainian territory, as well as the capture of Mairupol, may allow Vladimir Putin to claim victory in his "special military operation".

What is happening on the frontline here shows the extent of the firepower – artillery, missiles and warplanes – the Kremlin has invested in the Donbas. And that Ukrainian forces, although putting up tenacious resistance, are finding themselves repeatedly outgunned. A string of towns and villages have fallen to the Russians; one example being Svitlodarsk, where a thermal power station is based, raising the possibility of electricity supply for much of Donbas being cut off .

“The shelling is brutal, they focus on a target and they just keep pouring in round after round, that gets very hard to face," says Bogdan, a corporal in the marines. “They are mass firing into our positions before advancing. We simply haven’t got enough weapons to counter that, so we are losing a lot, dead and injured.”

The 19-year-old is one of the walking wounded, with shrapnel in his back received during fierce clashes in forests near the village of Bohordychne – fighting in which a number of his comrades were killed.

It is the second time he had been injured in two and half months, taking shrapnel in his chest in March during the battle for Izium, a city being fought over due to its strategic importance for the Donbas. The Ukrainians say that a Russian General, Andrei Simonov, has been killed in action there.

Bogdan says he wanted to return to the frontline as quickly as possible after the last injury, as he is a trained regular serviceman. Many of the volunteer battalions have rushed to the front with relatively much less training, due to time pressure.

Speaking during his evacuation for emergency medical treatment the young marine describes how he and his colleagues had made repeated sorties against Russian positions armed only with rocket propelled grenades (RPGs).

“They RPGs have worked at times, of course, and it looks great when they do”, says Bogdan. “But the problem is that Russians are using their modern tanks, and they have learned from their mistakes. It is getting much more difficult to be effective with just RPGs, and also more dangerous.

“The Russians try psychological stuff like these broadcasts saying we’ll be killed. But the real worry is their long range artillery. Unless we get weapons to counter the Russians, get a fighting chance, then I think a lot of us have to face the possibility of getting killed.”

American and British supplied Javelins and Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) missiles have been effective. But supplies are running low.

A number of Ukrainian servicemen fighting in the Donbas echo the marine’s account of losses incurred due to Russian firepower and the sheer frustration at not having enough weaponry to respond.

Valeryi Piskoviy, a 22-year-old drone operator, was injured by Russian artillery fire during a battle on Monday which he says "got more and more intense as the Russians kept firing and firing”. Two of his comrades were killed and he suffered shrapnel damage to the leg.

“The Russians are using heavy artillery and also air strikes. One of their tactic seems to be to force us into a location and then just bomb it, they are using a lot of their Orlan [Orlan-10] drones which can locate us” he said. “Of course we can do with more artillery ourselves, hopefully we shall get them, in the meantime we must try the best we can.”

More advanced – and offensive – arms have been promised by the West and some have been delivered. But the concern is whether they would arrive in time and in enough numbers to help stop the Russian advance and help lessen the rising casualty numbers in the Donbas. President Zelensksy stated that Russian weaponry outnumber Ukrainian by twenty to one in the region.

The foreign nation-supplied arms supposedly available does not always translate into reality on the ground. Examples of this include M777 155 howitzers, recently supplied by the US, which have been presented as game-changers in the conflict. But Ukrainian officials point out that only around 90 systems have been delivered so far and of that, only a dozen are believed to have reached the frontline.

There have also been claims that the systems were not fitted with advanced computer systems. The Pentagon has not denied this, but has stressed it had received “positive feedback” from Kyiv about the value of the weapon in the fighting.

Similarly, Emmanuel Macron has announced that Caesar truck-mounted artillery systems, with long range 155mm cannons. will be supplied to Kyiv. Ukrainian gunners have been receiving training in France, but few of the systems are in place for the current combat in the east.

Anton Gerashchenko, a senior advisor to the Ukrainian government – and a former minister – said: “Of course we are grateful to our Western allies for the weapons they have supplied and have promised to supply.

“The big question now is one of numbers, not just of the systems, but also the quantity of ammunition. We urgently need our allies to step up the supplies so that they can be passed on to the frontline where they are so much needed by our forces.

“I think they have shown that our forces can defend itself, without our western allies having to put troops on the ground if we have the means to do this. Russia has suffered huge losses in this invasion, but now they are throwing a huge amount of resources into the Donbas. This is a critical time for us.”

Ukrainian forces injured in the conflict insist they are determined to get back to the fight, but worry they will continue to face the same punishing odds and the possibility of further territorial losses.

Sergei, a 26-year-old border guard, received arm and leg injuries when the vehicle he was travelling in overturned under attack. “We are carrying AK-47s and not much more. That was probably alright for peacetime, but obviously not now”, he says. “Of course we will continue to defend our country, but it’s a very hard situation.”

Volunteer battalions have played a key role in defending Ukraine during this war. In most cases the fighters have not had much formal training, and have trained themselves. Viktor Ollesiuk, 33, was hit by a RPG round in close combat.

“Getting battle training in a battle is probably not a good idea, but we had no choice in this war” he says. “The night before the battle the Russians played [a] funeral march to intimidate us. Well I am not dead, so that is a victory. Who’s going to win at the end? I think there’ll be a ceasefire when both sides are exhausted.”