Fights are taking place here every day: Russian units are trying to surround and capture Pokrovsk, and the Ukrainian army is doing everything possible to repel their attacks. The defense of this strategic position also includes the unit of Alexey – a battalion officer of the 14th operational brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine.
The defense of Pokrovsk: complete exhaustion
Russian drones, including those with fiber optics, control the road, so any movement is dangerous. This makes it extremely difficult to supply the units with provisions and ammunition, as well as to evacuate the wounded and dead. – It is impossible to immediately remove the bodies from the battlefield – "sometimes we have to wait for better weather conditions, when visibility is worse. Because it's stupid to pull out one body, but lose a dozen more fighters," the officer explains.
Over the past month, Alexey has noticed another change in Russian tactics: they enter occupied villages on motorcycles, gather in these places, split up and head towards Ukrainian positions in small groups. "If they manage to consolidate there, it's a success for them," Alexey says.
While attention is focused on one place, the next small group moves to another position. "We have 5-6 changes of positions during the day and our soldiers are simply unable to repel them", he added.
"It is wrong to cede territory to stop the war"
The Russian army has made a breakthrough northeast of Pokrovsk and is rapidly moving towards Dobropilya. Although the Ukrainian military has since liberated several villages, the area is under constant shelling and is becoming increasingly deserted - every day people are evacuated here, fleeing Russian airstrikes and drones. "I believed a lot in the negotiations, I was waiting for every date. But now I understand that this is useless. "I'm already desperate," says Natalia from Dobropilya, whom we meet in a settlement in the Donetsk region that has been turned into a gathering point for evacuees.
"I think it's wrong to cede territories to stop the war. Even though they are being taken away from us anyway - they are destroying and destroying everything, and there are no guarantees that this territory will ever be restored," the woman adds. Her son is a soldier, he was wounded and is currently demobilized.
Tatyana works at one of the medical posts in the Kramatorsk direction. The anesthesiologist confirms that the Ukrainian military is suffering from severe exhaustion. Sometimes they bring soldiers who have not left their combat positions for months.
There is no sense in the medical center that any peace talks have begun. The military medics are following the news, but trying not to be distracted by events they cannot influence. "I hope for the best", says Tatyana, whose attention is entirely focused on providing assistance to the injured.
Ukrainian fighters: "We will not let them pass here"
"How the negotiations will be held is a question for the top leadership of our country. Our task is to restrain the enemy, and we are fulfilling it", says a serviceman from the 56th Mariupol Motorized Infantry Brigade, participating in the defense of Chasov Yar. He confirms that at the moment the Ukrainians are not performing assault tasks, but only defensive ones: "Only defense, holding the enemy. "Our task is to prevent them from advancing even by 100 meters," says the soldier with the call sign Stinger.
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, about a dozen attacks are carried out per day in the Kramatorsk direction, which includes the Chasov Yar area.
There are also cases when Russian units manage to break through the Ukrainian defense line, defended by the Stinger company. According to the military officer, this is due to the fact that the Russians are throwing huge amounts of manpower and weapons into this direction, and the Ukrainians are trying to save the lives of the soldiers and when a critical situation arises, they withdraw to safer positions.
"Today they want Donbass, and tomorrow Lviv?"
At the same time as the front is advancing, the Russian army is intensifying shelling in the rear. A week ago, more than 40 guided bombs hit targets in the Kramatorsk area, the largest of the cities in Donetsk region that remain under Ukrainian control. Three people were injured. After Russian shelling, a five-story building in the city center was also destroyed - six people were killed and 11 were injured.
Pensioner Valentina, whose daughter was injured in the shelling, does not believe that the war can end with peace talks. "On the same day, August 15, when the negotiations began (the meeting between Putin and Trump in Alaska - ed. note), they shelled Slavyansk, where my other daughter lives. What kind of peace talks are these?", the elderly woman is indignant.
The residents of Kramatorsk, whom DW spoke to, for the most part do not support territorial concessions in exchange for a ceasefire. "Today he wants Donetsk region, tomorrow he will say we should give him Lviv region, and in a week he may ask for Kiev too", points out pensioner Oleg. "No way", replies pensioner Zoya. "I am Ukrainian, I love Donbas. How much blood has already been shed, how many people have died... And my son is fighting."
Vasily, a middle-aged man, thinks like this: "Why do we need this region if so many people have died? Have you been on the front line? I came from there - everything is destroyed, there is nothing left."
Together with his wife, he left his native village in the Konstantinovsky district, which the Russian army is advancing on. "Putin cannot be trusted", Vasily continues. "I don't know what the world needs to do to stop this. I know that Zelensky is having a hard time, very hard. This is a very serious decision."
Locals struggle to answer the question of what guarantees can protect Ukraine from repeated Russian aggression. "Our guarantee of security is in our military presence throughout the country", says pensioner Nikolai. And Svetlana, a middle-aged woman, does not believe in the power of any guarantees. "Because I haven't seen any real support for the war", she says.
"What did so many boys die for!?"
Yaroslav is a young Ukrainian who is following the negotiations. "I thought a lot about it", he says of the territorial concessions. "But I came to the conclusion that I personally am not ready to give up Kramatorsk and the Donetsk region. Because then why did so many boys die in Donbass?".
At the same time, Yaroslav admits that peace negotiations are inevitable. "Every war ends with negotiations. Whoever does not know his history is doomed to repeat history," says the young man.
Author: Anna Andreas Sokolova