The images from the ongoing fighting in the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine are brutal. The battle that Ukraine is losing is described as a meat grinder.
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But it is not only destruction and bloodshed that stand out in the images emanating from Bakhmut. There are also strikingly many furrowed faces among the Ukrainian soldiers.
In february wrote the news agency Reuters about how older menand women, some well past retirement age, were getting ready to fight with arms, either on the side of the pro-Russian separatists or the Ukrainians in Donetsk.
Already last summer, Russia opened the door for older people to enlist in the war, with the following low-threshold requirements from the authorities: You can be from 18 to 60. Older if you feel “awake”.
Ever since the start of the war, Ukraine has refused men under the age of 60 to travel abroad. All hands are needed to fight the Russian invasion forces.
– Whoever wants to kill my grandchildren is my enemy
The pictures from Bakhmut show older Ukrainian soldiers, among them Oleksandr Taran (65).
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Volunteer Oleksander “Scull” Taran photographed in his underground command center in Bakhmut on Christmas Day. Photo: Libkos / AP/NTB
– Anyone who has come to my country and destroyed my home, who wants to kill me, my children, my grandchildren, my friends – is my enemy, he says in an interview with RadioFreeEurope/Radio Liberty.
Taran was injured in 2015, and came close to having to amputate both legs. Now he walks with a cane. But he fights on, and today will lead a volunteer army.
The 65-year-old sees his participation in the war as a necessity.
– There is nothing romantic about war. It’s not a movie, he says.
Stands up to wear out the Russians
Professor Tormod Heier at the Staff School believes that the Ukrainian strategy in Bakhmut is to weaken the Russian war machine.
– By holding Bakhmut for as long as possible, this will wear down the Russian forces in the area. Thus, the air will also go out of the Russian offensive more quickly, he told ABC Nyheter this week.
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Medical personnel help an adult injured soldier in an evacuation vehicle in Bakhmut on February 22 this year. Photo: Libkos / AP/NTB
The costs of constantly going on the offensive in urban warfare are very high, explains Heier.
– The Ukrainians can therefore expect the Russian advance to stop soon, which in turn opens up a Ukrainian counter-offensive with larger mechanized units that are better suited to take and hold large territories. The possibility that this can be done is, among other things, that a fairly modest Ukrainian force has tied up many Russian departments around Bakhmut, says the professor to ABC Nyheter.
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