(CNN) — The weather in Bakhmut deceives the senses: sunny and warm, it almost seems peaceful. But a deafening roar of artillery firing from the eastern Ukrainian city shakes that notion, as Ukrainian soldiers launched a series of offensives on Wednesday to try to retake positions.
Three men were seen fleeing the city, one of them with a microwave strapped to his back.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has been going on for nine months. But only when you arrive in the city do you get a real idea of the devastation that Vladimir Putin’s invasion has caused.
Our guide is a Ukrainian military doctor, whose nom de guerre is “Katrusya”. Wearing tinted sunglasses and a work uniform, she drives our convoy downtown at breakneck speed.
Through the windows you can see a ghost town.
“For the last two months, the Russians have been trying to break through the city’s defenses without success,” he tells us between cigarettes.
He took us to see a building that had just been bombed. Our car had not come to a complete stop when another artillery shell landed nearby. We scrambled for cover as more artillery fell for regarding 20 minutes.
The attacks are normal, says Katrusya, leaning once morest a wall, sheltered from the falling projectiles.
“Artillery attacks happen every day, so it’s never quiet here. Other parts of the city are attacked many times a day,” she says.
A handful of residents remain on the streets of Bakhmut. The buildings have no windows; the streets are full of craters and the industrial dumps have become small puddles of garbage.
Those who remain seem to live in a parallel universe. They’re on their bikes, running errands, and older women are pulling their shopping carts, though it’s unclear which stores are open.
Sergey is one of those Bakhmut residents who still walk the streets. When asked if he is worried regarding the bombing, he replies: “Afraid of what, mate? Everything will be fine”.
Then he looks into the distance, almost as if he doesn’t really believe his own words.
Katrusya says that the fighting cost the lives of numerous soldiers and civilians in this place. “I can’t give you a number, but it’s a lot… there are a lot of wounded on both sides and also a lot of dead.”
She lost her husband fighting the Russians in Bakhmut just a month ago. Only antidepressants help her with the pain, she says.
The city of Bakhmut is the focus of multiple Russian bombardments.
The fight for Bakhmut has grown fiercer in recent days. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky called the fighting in the city “the most difficult”.
For its part, the strategic importance of the city is not exaggerated. Bakhmut is located at a fork that points towards two other strategic cities in the Donetsk region: Konstantinivka to the southwest and Kramatorsk and Slovyansk to the northwest. All three are key to Vladimir Putin’s total control of the region.
However, the scenes in Bakhmut are different from the rest of the country, where Ukraine has largely been able to repel Russian attacks and even gain territory in recent weeks.
Here, Russian forces have made small, steady gains, largely thanks to the Wagner group, which analysts see as a private military group working for the Kremlin.
Reports on social media and in Russian state media say that Wagner’s mercenaries are on the outskirts of Bakhmut, in a small town called Ivangrad.
On the Telegram social network, Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, acknowledged that the city’s resistance is tough.
“The situation near Bakhmut is steadily difficult, the Ukrainian troops are putting up a decent resistance and the idea of the fleeing Ukrainians is a fantasy. Ukrainians are guys with the same iron balls as us,” she wrote.
Katrusya says she has faced Wagner fighters and, despite their international notoriety, they are a mix of soldiers for hire.
“They are scum. There are some very well-trained professional fighters, but most of them have found themselves fighting this war by chance, in order to make some money or to get out of jail,” he said.
In September, a video surfaced that appeared to show Prigozhin recruiting prisoners from Russian jails for Wagner, offering clemency in exchange for six months of military service in Ukraine.
Despite her anguish, Katrusya’s spirit is unbroken. The only goal is victory.
“The price for Ukraine will be enormous,” he acknowledges. “We will lose the best of the best, the most motivated and trained, but we will definitely win. We have no choice but our land. We will absolutely win.”
