Silence filled the Humvee's cabin as the military vehicle advanced toward enemy lines. Volodymyr (who, like the others mentioned by first name only, declined to give his last name) was behind the wheel. He wore a helmet and remained focused as he weaved through countryside paths carved up by armored vehicles. As the edge of an open field came into view, he stopped and asked his crew to check that the jamming system was activated. These antennas, mounted on the vehicle roofs, emit frequencies to disable Russian kamikaze drones patrolling the skies in search of a target. Like many vehicles patrolling this front line in eastern Ukraine's Donbas, Volodymyr's Humvee was covered with metal grilles to lessen the impact of an explosion as much as possible.

After a 30-minute ride, the driver eventually swerved to the left, then entered a wood where an artillery battery of the 33^rd Mechanized Brigade was stationed. Here, the men live underground, in a basic shelter with wooden beds. Inside, their faces were drawn and weary, faintly lit by a dim light. Commander Konstyantyn, known by his nom de guerre "Skill," 40, watched the movements of enemy troops on a small screen dotted with live drone images. On October 13, the men had already been fighting for more than two months on this part of the front, near Kurakhove, a small town in the Donbas under intense Russian assault.

"The Russians are like cockroaches," said 48-year-old Andriy bitterly, nom de guerre "Aristocrat," a former manager at Nestlé. "They attack every day." The mission of the five-man crew is to strike the enemy with a 2S1 "Gvozdika," a Soviet-made 122mm self-propelled gun covered with a camouflage net. The main targets are tanks, explained Commander "Skill." This former electrician acknowledged that they had received more ammunition recently, though he maintained it was "not enough." Western support remains inadequate against the resources deployed by Moscow.

Heavy losses of men and equipment

For several months, the Russian army has been advancing in the southeast of Donetsk, focusing its deadly assaults on an area stretching for dozens of kilometers, from the strategic hub of Pokrovsk to the small town of Vuhledar, which was captured in early October. The Russians are progressing on multiple fronts, taking advantage of weaknesses in Kyiv's defenses and encircling Ukrainian soldiers to force them to retreat. In October, Moscow recorded its biggest territorial gains since the spring of 2022, according to an AFP analysis based on data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW, Washington), which shows an advance of 478 square kilometers on Ukrainian territory.

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