Ukrainian soldiers in desperate need of Western weapons as they defend Bakhmut
There’s an eerie sense of foreboding in the villages, towns, and cities of eastern Ukraine – especially those within firing distance of Russian artillery, and the fighting in the nearby city of Bakhmut.
At breakfast time we were startled by the sound of an explosion near where we are staying in Kramatorsk.
A residential neighbourhood had been hit by a Russian missile, at least one person died.
Whole apartments had been destroyed and as the emergency services started rescuing the injured, survivors picked through the ruins looking for belongings.
The contents of their home were strewn across the road, along with glass and debris from the explosion.
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The elderly and most vulnerable were slowly helped from the battered buildings as medics moved in to dress their wounds and inspect injuries.
We watched on as a medic dressed an elderly resident’s nastily burnt hands.
Even as we filmed the air raid sirens started again.
Kramatorsk has been hit many times, but it’s no less of a shock each time for those still living here.
“I was sitting on the couch at home talking to my daughter on the phone, when suddenly dust and debris flew into me. I didn’t hear anything else, and I don’t want to hear anything more. B******s!”, one woman shouted at our camera.
Footage from fighting inside Bakhmut shows a Ukrainian soldier with an RPG
About 12kms (7.5 miles) back from the Bakhmut frontline is Konstantinovka.
People still live here among the many ruined apartment blocks, schools, and government buildings, but there is no quiet.
The Ukrainians resupply their troops from here.
The main route back to Bakhmut has been lost to the Russians, so enormous tanks, trucks, armoured personnel carriers and ambulances rumble through residential backstreets to obscure single lane roads that allow them some safety on their way further east.
The boom of outgoing Ukrainian artillery is a constant, sometimes the equally distinctive sound of incoming rounds makes visitors like me look up and readjust my body armour and helmet.
Groups of soldiers, some going in, and some coming out of Bakhmut stop at a few petrol stations that are still open to drink coffee, and chat to comrades.
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A team of soldiers pull up in a battered pickup and are greeted with hugs by a group of volunteer medics who have brought them some supplies.
The soldiers have just left the fighting in Bakhmut, and they busily start transferring boxes of food and medicine into their vehicle.
I ask what it is like inside, and the answer is simple: it’s hard and they need more of everything.
“It is really difficult, we need more of everything we can get, because it’s really hard now there, but we are holding on,” a soldier named Ivan told me.
“That’s it, what more can I say?”
Ivan says Ukrainian forces are ‘holding on’ in Bakhmut
More of everything includes modern Western weapons of course.
More is coming but the sense I got from what I could see of the equipment on show just a few miles from the front is that it can’t come soon enough.
I asked another soldier, Oleksandr, whose battalion has just arrived from a distant part of the country, if he was confident of a victory.
His answer was revealingly honest. “I think it’s 30 to 70 in our favour that we will win this fight for Bakhmut.”
He confirmed Russia has many soldiers on the battlefield, too.
“Russia has a lot of soldiers there, but they are taking a lot more losses than we are, much more.”
Oleksandr, pictured, is confident of victory
President Zelenskyy has said the defence of the east and the relief of Bakhmut is a priority for Ukraine.
Some military analysts disagree, but he has said in no uncertain terms that the fight for Ukraine will be won or lost in the east.
Rightly or wrongly, he says now is one of the most important periods of the war so far.
Stuart Ramsay reports from eastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Artem Lysak, and Nick Davenport.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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