Near Avdiivka, Ukraine CNN —
The small town of Avdiivka, located on the front line, has become the epicenter of the war in Ukraine. Still in Ukrainian hands – currently – it is surrounded on three sides by Russian troops and cannons.
The city itself, which was destroyed by the Russians, is no longer recognizable.
Concrete scaffolding marks what were once the city's tallest buildings, seemingly floating among small mounds of rubble. The cross on the city's church, bent twice by an explosion, points accusingly to the Russian lines.
Amid the ruins, Russian and Ukrainian troops clash, under attack from drones and occasionally tanks. Casualties are heavy on both sides, but especially among the Russian attackers, who threw wave after wave against the entrenched defenders.
“Flesh attacks” is how a Ukrainian sniper, “Bess,” described these attacks to CNN. His call sign means “demon” in Ukrainian and the scene he narrates is hellish. The dead soldiers “just lie there frozen,” the Omega Special Forces Group officer said from a house several miles behind the front line in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.
“No one is evacuating them, no one is taking them away,” he said. “It feels like people don’t have a specific purpose, they just go and die.”
“Teren,” the commander of a Ukrainian drone reconnaissance unit in the city, said that even if “one day we can kill 40 to 70 soldiers with drones, the next day they renew their forces and continue to attack.”
He said his pilots from the 110th Mechanized Brigade had killed at least 1,500 Russians in 18 months of fighting around the city. Nevertheless, they keep coming back.
Joseph Ataman/CNN
By relying on the Soviet equipment at their disposal rather than the Western weapons they crave, Ukrainian troops have learned to be more creative with their weapons in combat.
The number of casualties in Ukraine is a closely guarded secret, but the fight has become a battle of attrition, pitting seemingly chaotic Russian attacks against Ukrainians' limited but determined resources and manpower.
In a surprise trip to Avdiivka in late December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the battle for the city as an “attack,” adding that the battle could in many ways “determine the overall course of the war.”
Ukraine's leadership appears to be aware of criticism of the defense of Bakhmut in 2023 – its subsequent overthrow – and recognizes the obvious tensions between holding on to sites of little strategic importance and protecting the lives of soldiers.
“Every piece of our land is valuable to us,” said army chief Valery Zaluzhny, but in Avdiivka “there is no need to do anything remotely resembling a show.”
But these lives depend on guns and weapons.
On a frigid January morning, with a temperature of -22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 Fahrenheit), CNN watched another team of Omega special forces race to their firing position around Avdiivka.
One of the men rushed to set up his Soviet-era rocket launcher attached to the back of an American pickup truck and flipped the switch to fire a volley.
Clicking noises followed – and curses. If frozen solid, the rockets would not fire.
They rely on the equipment they have rather than the Western hardware they crave, knowing that any missed chance to fire back at the Russians could cost Ukrainians their lives.
A few days later, a supply truck chewed through the mud of a field around the nearby town of Marinka, delivering much-needed shells to a gun position.
But the gun – a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer – is silent most of the day and limited to about 20 shells a day, 30 on a “good day,” gunners said. Last summer, weapons troops fired at least twice as many foreign cartridges, many of them American-made, at the Russians in support of Ukraine's failed counteroffensive, they said.
Daria Tarasova-Markina/CNN
Crammed into their shelter, the crew of a U.S.-supplied 155mm howitzer tries to relax between fire missions. Limited ammunition means they fire far fewer shells than they would like.
However, US support for Ukraine – including urgently needed grenades – no longer appears to be assured.
Future aid packages are still mired in contention on Capitol Hill, and the specter of a possible Trump presidency averse to Ukraine aid is adding uncertainty.
John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, put it bluntly this month: “The assistance we have been providing has now come to a halt. Russian attacks are increasing.”
But if they can use their Western weapons, the Ukrainians in Avdiivka have a lot more to celebrate.
The tip of the spear during last year's ill-fated Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle – a gift from the US to Ukraine and designed to support infantry – cemented its reputation and dampened the waves of Russian attacks.
Without the Bradley, “I doubt we would be here talking to you,” crew commander “Barbie” told CNN from behind the Avdiivka front line.
“The vehicle is a tough beast,” he said. “It’s not afraid of anything.”
03:04 – Source: CNN
New video shows US weapons destroying Russian positions in Ukraine
In a video provided to CNN by another Bradley unit from the 47th Mechanized Brigade, a U.S.-trained crew takes on a Russian T-90 tank – one of the most powerful in Moscow's army. Their fire disables the tank, its turret spinning uncontrollably before an exploding drone smashes into its side.
But American-made Bradleys have limited availability at the front.
About 200 Bradleys were promised by the US and dozens were damaged and destroyed in battle. Some of these were probably repaired and sent back to the front.
While Ukrainian crews are admirers of the Bradley's performance, they also criticize its ability to survive the harsh Ukrainian winter and the condition of some older vehicles shipped from the United States.
Ukraine's lack of firepower compared to its opponent is a common theme on the front lines. “Teren,” the commander of a nearby drone reconnaissance unit, said bluntly that Ukraine does not have enough weapons and equipment to win against Russia.
Ukrainians are being forced to become better pilots and more resourceful with their limited resources, he said.
“At the beginning of the war, their lead in drones was 10 times greater than ours,” he said. “At the moment I think we are a worthy opponent in the drone format. We cover the sky 24/7.”
As CNN watched the hunt for Russian troops from the unit's command post, he saw several of his unit's drones circling a Russian foxhole.
A drone's powerful cameras captured two Russian soldiers desperately aiming at a suicide drone, smoke from their rifles and cigarettes billowing into the cold air. The Ukrainian drone dives into the narrow shelter behind them and explodes.
CNN does not know the fate of the men, but drone pilots in the area told CNN that they likely would not have survived given the number of drone units operating in the area.
Serhii Nuzhnenko/Portal
Members of the Ukrainian National Guard's Omega Special Forces fire a mortar at Russian troops in the frontline town of Avdiivka during Russia's attack on Ukraine, Nov. 8, 2023.
Nevertheless, the Russian attacks continue, which means that holding Avdiivka now depends on the number of attacks, said “Bess”, the special forces sniper.
“If there’s a liter bottle, there’s no way you can fit a liter and a half in it,” he said.
To offset Russia's superior numbers, Ukraine's leadership – under pressure from the country's top generals – is considering possibly half a million additional troops to bolster the military's ranks.
Life in Ukrainian cities away from the front lines appears relatively unaffected by the fighting, at least on the surface. Although recruiting posters and military checkpoints dot the highways and men in uniform are regularly seen, there are few obvious signs of wartime restrictions or changes in daily life. The supermarkets are full and the cafes are full of customers.
But conscription is a sensitive issue.
While the Ukrainian president has the authority to impose further mobilization – currently limited to people over 27 – he has chosen to seek parliamentary approval. The bill is slowly – and not without difficulty – passing through the legislature's consideration.
Zelensky also questioned how the mobilization would be financed, since six taxpayers would have to cover the salary of every soldier in uniform, he said.
His restraint is a sign of political sensitivity to public opinion in Ukraine, even as the country's enemies make no secret of their violent ambitions against Kiev.
“The existence of Ukraine is deadly for Ukrainians,” Russian former President Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and one of Russia’s most aggressive politicians, posted on Telegram on January 17.
“Why? “The existence of an independent state on the historic Russian territories will now be a constant pretext for the resumption of hostilities,” he continued.
Back on the front lines, morale was high among the troops CNN spoke to.
The soldiers, tired but rarely angry, realized that reinforcements would be a welcome boost to their rotations away from the front lines.
However, this remains a distant hope for now as the battle rages on in Avdiivka.
“We are doing everything possible and impossible to hold this line,” Omega Special Forces officer “Sayer” told CNN.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he said. “But Avdiivka perseveres. We are on our land. We have nothing to lose.”