The darkness is made even deeper by the lack of electric lighting. It's five in the morning, the ground is a layer of ice and the branches of the trees are frozen. The only lights come from dozens of cars that start to move like fireflies through the damaged streets of Pokrovsk. They are on their way to their positions on the fronts surrounding the city of Avdíivka, 60 kilometers away. The changing of the guard must take place before the first rays of light.
After a 25-minute journey, Commander Rustam's pick-up is parked in front of a shop that has the only light on in a village of only a few houses. On the other side of the fence, a woman receives the order for the coffees that the man collects before starting the day. "From now on put your mobile in airplane mode. They can't see us arriving in a caravan", says Rustam, with a beard and dark eyes, before getting into his car and disappearing.
"Winter makes everything more difficult. Watch the car slide. Many times we get buried in the mud and it's very easy to get attacked. They have a lot more night vision equipment", explains Andrew, responsible for leaving us at the point, under a frozen hedge in the middle of a white plain.
Rustam is there with three men. They connect the Starlink that provides them with internet and begin to attach grenades and other types of homemade bombs to the drones with which throughout the day they intend to destroy Russian equipment and stop the advance of the troops trying to break the lines. "The Russians are in Stepove, three kilometers from here," says the man when he sees us arrive. At that time, all kinds of explosions are heard, some entering and others exiting: artillery, Grad rockets...
Stepove is a town on the eastern flank of Avdíivka, a city desired by the Russians since 2014, when it was on the front line. The Russians haven't given him a break. Moscow's ultimate goal is to shut it down completely. And the task of these men, to avoid it. They are part of the 47th Brigade, which until October 18 participated in the failed counter-offensive, which wanted to retake the occupied territories of southern Ukraine. "This is more difficult for us, there we advanced and here we defend", says Rustam. That day they were moved to this region and a few hours later they were launching their drones to stop the Russian advance, which had launched a major offensive to take Avdíivka. The Russians don't stop launching attacks. "There have been five major attempts so far, but they send men every day," says the commander. As happened in Bakhmut, there is no building left that is not affected. Even so, around 1,100 people remain in the city, as confirmed by some volunteers who risk their lives to bring them humanitarian aid.
"It was one of the most difficult days, maybe yes. But also the day of greatest satisfaction”, the four men agree when they talk about the October day when Russia launched the offensive. "Sapsan destroyed twenty targets by himself, including tanks and other types of equipment," explains Hammer, a businessman who enlisted on the first day of the invasion. All four operate as a single team, but tasks are divided. One duo is in charge of the drone intended to discover enemy positions, and the other, to operate the FVP, as the kamikaze drones used on one side and the other are known. Sapsan says his biggest fear is that the Russians will send him one of the drones he operates.
The Frontelligence Insight team, which uses satellite images to monitor the situation at the front, counted until November 28 211 Russian vehicles destroyed or abandoned in the vicinity of Avdiivka. "Today there is little visibility, but other days with the drones we see dozens of abandoned bodies on the ground", says Sapsan. The drone's camera allows them to witness how once the Ukrainians manage to control the advance of one group, the Russians send another one next. "They are suffering enormous losses in personnel and equipment. Almost all the equipment they used is being damaged. Anyone who attacks suffers huge losses. But for them it is not a sign. Three brigades have already changed and they still have a lot of men," explains Hammer.
The famous Z storms first seen a year ago in the offensive to take Bakhmut are now identified as V storms. No one knows how to explain the difference, but Rustam has a theory: "Now they combine more ex-convicts, who they use as cannon fodder, with experienced soldiers."
Russian numerical superiority makes the situation for the Ukrainians extremely difficult. And this is a constant both in Avdíivka and in other eastern fronts where Russian pressure has intensified, such as Bakhmut, Kremnina and Kúpiansk. In each, the soldiers agree to ensure that it is one of the hardest times for Ukraine after the first moments of the invasion.
The Institute for the Study of War has said that Russia wants to improve its tactical positions and everyone in the area believes that Vladimir Putin will do everything possible to advance as much as he can in the Dobass before the Russian elections on March 18. In Bakhmut, for example, they are pressing hard and have managed to recover some positions won by the Ukrainians in the summer.
"There is pressure from them and also our mistakes. There are some commanders who come from the academy and have made mistakes," says a veteran soldier who has been operating in Bakhmut since the beginning of the Russian offensive to take the city and who identifies himself only as Orest. In previous conversations, he was always optimistic, now he does not hide that he is worried. He says that the Ukrainian soldiers are using everything they have to defend themselves, but they feel the lack of ammunition and are rationing it. They also know they need more men in their ranks. "We will not abandon the fight, but the State's resources are much smaller than those of the aggressor", concludes Hammer. The passage of time begins to take effect. They eat chocolates and drink energy drinks while changing their synthetic heat packs on hands and feet. They explain all this between the launching of drones, the installation of bombs and the attack on the enemy. Visibility was poor, but by the time we left them, at two in the afternoon, they had destroyed an anti-tank guided missile system.
