NEAR BAKHMUT: Shovels in hand and helmets on heads, Ukrainian soldiers jumped out of a military truck and prepare to dig a trench near Bakhmut, in the conflict-hit east of the country.
The team leader gave instructions to the 30 or so diggers: “You have to dig from there to there,” he said, pointing to a few dozen metres of green grass damp from the night’s rain.
The chosen spot is between a small road and some woods, about six kilometres from the Russian frontline.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. These days, most of the fighting is in the east, for control of the industrial Donbass region, in particular the city of Bakhmut, which has been almost completely destroyed.
The group leader continues: “Half of you dig, half of you can smoke, and then you change over. You dig until 2.30pm and then we get out of here,” he said, mid-morning on Sunday.
“That’s Bakhmut, that’s the front,” he adds, pointing to all sides.
The soldiers on the first digging duty put their rifles in the grass and, shovels in hand, lined up along the designated stretch of ground. The others stand slightly back.
But the trench-diggers didn’t even have time to start before the shrill sound of a rocket ripped through the air, exploding less than 50 metres away.
Some soldiers dived to the ground, others ran to lie down at the edge of the adjacent wood.
Twenty or so explosions in a row followed, close by or more distant.
The detonations followed one another for about 20 seconds. Then silence returned.
A few soldiers stood up, but quickly fall back when two more explosions sounded.
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