Ukraine-Russia war: On the front line with Ukrainian troops as they try to hold back the Russian tide

Published

1 year ago

February 23, 2024

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You cannot see the Russians from the forest floor, but you certainly hear them in the stands of pine that grow north of the city of Kupyansk.

The Ukrainian President, Volodymr Zelenskyy warned that their soldiers were “concentrating maximum reserves” in area.

It is a challenge that the members of Ukraine’s 32nd Brigade, who are charged with defending the territory, would struggle to match.

They took us to a command centre located a few kilometres from the front and we found a series of long faces and hard stares in their cramped, underground cabin.

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“They’re storming us, breaching the barbed wire so they can pass right through,” said a tired looking soldier called Sasha.

He told us that the Russians used to assault their positions once or twice a day – but now the attacks are continuous.

Members of the unit also spoke of crippling ammunition shortages.

“When Ukraine fires an artillery shell, how many shells do the Russians send back,” I asked them.

“One to ten,” said one. “Yes, one to ten,” said another.

Drones give the brigade a comprehensive view of the forest but sometimes they work to highlight the imbalance.

“They have their aircraft, helicopters, planes, laser bombs, “Grads”. They use everything along our front line,” said Sasha.

President Zelenskyy is desperate to reset – and rearm – the Ukrainian military and has warned that an “artificial deficit” of weapons is giving Russia the space to attack.

Leading US military officials agree, insisting the tide could turn to Putin’s “significant advantage”, with $60bn of US funding stalled by supporters of former President Donald Trump in Congress.

Zelenskyy’s point was made for him when we found members of an anti-tank unit struggling to make their one and only rocket launcher work.

Screwdrivers and a hammer were deployed to bring the Soviet-era bazooka to life.

The commander, who calls himself ‘August’, said the weapon’s reliability was an issue but the shortage of grenades was a far bigger headache.

“Have you got enough ammunition?” I asked.

“No, not enough. We’ve got enough for 12,13, 15 minutes (of fighting). That’s it.”

“And after 12 minutes, then what?” I asked.

“We’ll take a machine gun and shoot with that,” he responded gloomily.

World

Israel’s PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Published

5 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Israel's PM tries to get on front foot in propaganda war he knows he is losing

Israel’s prime minister added more detail to his deeply controversial plans for military escalation in Gaza at a news conference with foreign media yesterday – despite the condemnation of the UN Security Council, which met in an emergency session and urged him to rethink.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “fairly short timetable” to establish designated “safe zones” for the one million or so set to be displaced from Gaza City.

He also vowed to seize and dismantle Hamas’s final strongholds there – in the central refugee camps, and in al Mawasi, along Gaza’s southwestern coast.

This, per Netanyahu, is the only way to destroy the terror group, which he claimed “subjugates Gazans, steals their food and shoots them when they try to move to safety”.

Al Mawasi is already home to a significant displaced population, most of whom live in tents cramped up against the Mediterranean Sea, in what is already a designated humanitarian zone.

If members of Hamas live among them, rooting them out will be hugely complicated and will involve significant civilian casualties. If the residents of Gaza City can’t evacuate south to al Mawasi, where will they go?

Netanyahu’s plan is to set up more aid distribution sites through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and to flood Gaza with food.

He claimed his policy was not one of forced starvation – describing particular photos of starving babies as “fake news”, and accusing the media of painting a false picture.

“The only ones who are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages,” the prime minister claimed.

I asked Netanyahu how he would go about preventing the kinds of daily killings taking place at aid distribution points in the months since GHF has been operating.

Doctors Without Borders has described these incidents as deliberately orchestrated.

The prime minister said increasing the amount of aid heading into the Strip was the answer.

“And by the way, a lot of the firing was done by Hamas seeking to have a response by our forces,” he added. “And very often they didn’t, they held back. They stayed their own fire even though their own lives were on the line.”

This was Israel’s prime minister trying to get on the front foot in a propaganda war he acknowledged he was losing. He was loath to admit the presence of famine in Gaza.

It took two questions before he acknowledged there was “deprivation”, even if he would not be drawn on whether his 11-week total blockade of the strip earlier this year had played any role.

He recognises that the appalled response of the international community to the human cost of this war, and the accusations of war crimes and genocide which Israel so vehemently rejects, are a terrible look.

This was his attempt to reclaim the narrative.

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Defiant Netanyahu sets out plan for military escalation in Gaza – and describes photographs of starving babies as ‘fake news’

Published

11 hours ago

August 10, 2025