The battle for Bakhmut: Ukrainian city a smoking ruin as Russians forced back in disarray by counterattack
An armoured personnel carrier kicks up dust as it careers across the drying land.
The harsh winter here has turned to spring and the boggy farm tracks have hardened.
After months of setbacks, the change in seasons has ushered in a change of pace for the Ukrainian army.
In the open land around Bakhmut, they are now advancing on their enemy.
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The Institute for the Study of War assesses around 10 square miles of land around the beleaguered city has been liberated in the last week.
We were the first journalists to join the 3rd brigade, the fighters responsible for the counteroffensive that triggered more fighting on the northern and southern flanks of Bakhmut, and they wanted to show us how they were forcing the Russians back.
The fighting here remains fierce and the last few hundred metres towards the new frontline have to be made on foot, across open ground.
The new Russian lines are not far away.
It’s just a few hundred metres from where we tread.
Helmet camera footage shows Ukrainian soldiers clearing areas of Russian forces
Ukrainian soldiers advance towards Russian positions
An army in disarray
As we walk into what was Russian-occupied territory just days ago you can hear the sound of small arms fire – machine guns crackle in the distance – and we’re told they’re trying to take it back.
Our military guide, Dotsent, shows us the foxholes where the Russians hid when the Ukrainian surprise assault began.
“Here they were crawling,” he tells us, pointing to a trench in a treeline decimated by shrapnel and gunfire.
Many were obviously wounded; there were used tourniquets, field dressings and torn clothing all around.
A helmet with a bullet hole lay on the ground.
Ammunition crates were left behind as those who could fled in a hurry.
It is a snapshot of an army in disarray.
Russian soldiers can be seen fleeing Ukraine’s forces
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Dotsent was part of the assault and he describes a bloody fight.
The positions of those who refused to surrender were stormed with armoured vehicles or cleared out with grenades.
What should be fields of wheat are pockmarked by the shelling.
Dotsent tells us: “Regarding the size of our advance and how many casualties the Russians had through the whole line – and this is only preliminary information – it’s awesome. And this lifts our morale. Everyone is now in high spirits.”
But such offensives come at a cost too.
“Yes, we also had casualties, two people died and they were very young. What can we do?”
Dotsent has been involved in the assault on Russia’s forces
As we were leaving a soldier appeared from further along the front with a pick-up truck carrying a dead Russian from the battlefield.
“Our people killed him. Maybe it was mortars because he has a lot of wounds. There are a lot of dead bodies. Too many.”
He is impatient to leave, the sound of the shelling nearby is getting louder and he says he has a lot of work still to do.
Ukrainian soldiers use grenades to clear parts of Bakhmut and storm Russian positions
A Ukrainian soldier fires a gun from the side of an armoured vehicle
‘Of course we are optimistic’
At the brigade’s underground bunker a few kilometres from the frontline, soldiers scan the landscape for Russian movements using drones.
They show us a livestream of the city of Bakhmut.
It’s a grey, smoking ruin of destroyed and burned buildings.
Nothing has been spared from the shelling.
A Ukrainian soldier says the troops are ‘optimistic’
And despite Ukraine’s success in recent days Russia still controls 90% of the city.
It has been the focus of their military campaign for months.
But with Ukraine’s new Western weapons, additional training and successes like these the Ukrainian soldiers here are confident they can win back their country.
They tell us: “Of course we are optimistic. We know what we are doing, we know how we must do our attack or our defence. We know that in the end, maybe two, three, five years, I don’t know, we will win this war.”
When the main counteroffensive comes is still a guessing game – even for the troops on the ground.
But they know their time is coming and they say they are ready.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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What’s in the proposed deal?
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on beachfront cafe in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters
Biden hails possibility of agreement
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
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Deal might be close, but there are many unanswered questions
Pic: Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re very close’
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
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Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are
weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
A draft ceasefire deal on the table between Israel and Hamas would see 33 hostages set free and a phased withdrawal of IDF forces from parts of Gaza.
President Joe Biden said an agreement to stop the fighting was “on the brink” and high level negotiations between the two sides resumed in Qatar on Tuesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages hold photos of their loved ones during a protest on 8 January. Pic: AP
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israel believes most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
Read more:
A timeline of events since the 7 October attacks
The hostages who still haven’t returned home
Smoke billows as buildings lie in ruin in Beit Hanoun in Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.
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