‘The more weapons we have, the faster we will end the war’
Barman’s shift on the front line outside Mykolaiv should have ended hours ago. The Ukrainian soldier, dressed in a camouflage ghillie suit and armed with an AK-47, has been holding his position for 24 hours.
Russian shells land in Liubomyrivka, north-east of Mykolaiv, three or four times a day. The summer heat is gruelling.
But shortages of soldiers and the risks of moving backwards and forwards leave the 31-year-old, known by his call sign, on the front line for a day and a night.
It is under these exhausting conditions that Barman and his fellow soldiers from 63rd Brigade have been conducting operations to push Russia back, as they prepare for the counteroffensive in which Ukraine is expected to move in on Kherson, the first major city to fall into Russian hands.
“It’s very hard and the shelling is intense here,” Barman, 31, said.
“We fight against artillery. Artillery shells us and that’s it, that’s how we fight. They don’t approach to engage in close combat, they shoot the artillery.”
As a consequence of the sensitive nature of the operation in Mykolaiv, soldiers were limited in what details they could share with reporters.
Deliveries of Western-supplied long-range artillery have in recent weeks helped Ukrainian forces reclaim territory in the southern Kherson region. Earlier this week President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged that his troops would retake the region by September, as he said “step by step” advances had been made.
Ukrainian military officials said it was thanks in part to Western weapons that they had turned a corner in the counter-offensive.
Last week, Ukrainian forces targeted the crucial Antonivskyi bridge with 12 shells from the newly arrived High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars), a Us-supplied long-range artillery weapon.
Kyiv’s forces have since been targeting river crossings in the region to stretch Russia’s supply lines.
Barman insisted his colleagues were able to “keep good defences” in the southern offensive, and said that they “push back when we can”.
“But the Russians are shelling anything,” he added. “Schools, civilian houses. They are relentless.”
Asked how long the counteroffensive, which Ukrainians claim is imminent, would last, Barman was confident in his country’s resolve. “We will win, it’s just a case of when,” he said. “We want other nations to keep sending us weapons so that we finish this war sooner.”
All around the front line, shelling could be heard in the distance. It is, a paramedic known as Dog explained, a fact of daily life.
Speaking from a trench at the central communications hub where troops further forward are given their commands, the soldier said rockets were constantly flying over, hitting everything from “big cities” to “schools, kindergartens, infrastructure and big buildings”.
The 22-year-old added that on the front line there is no “free time” and that they are constantly “observing”, be it preparing weapons or listening to the radio. “You constantly walk around looking back so that you are not shelled,” he said.
“We try to stick out, stay hidden, and in case of incoming fire, we hide.”
Meanwhile, the Conflict Intelligence Team has predicted renewed Russian attacks this week from Izyum towards Slavyansk and Barvinkove and on the Siversk-bakhmut line in Donbas.
They have also said there has been a build-up of Russian troops in Crimea, which they believe is either to reinforce Kherson or to gain the initiative by launching a spoiler attack on the hitherto quiet Zaporizhia front.
As for Dog and Barman, all they can think about is when the war will end and they can return to their families.
To do this, they reiterate that Ukraine needs more weapons.
“The more weapons we have, the faster we end the war and go home,” Barman said.
“Until then we read prayers and wait for more decent weapons.”