‘A day without dead Russians isn’t a complete day’
The Ukrainian troops fighting for control of a key hilltop in the Donetsk region are revelling in every setback suffered by the enemy, write Charlie Faulkner and Artur Chupryhin
Two days ago was a good day, Nazarii Kishak boasts as his pickup truck slides through muddy ravines towards military lines on the outskirts of Vuhledar, a bitterly contested hilltop town in eastern Ukraine. His men, part of the 48th Separate Rifle battalion, within the 72nd Motorised Brigade, managed to kill 11 Russians.
“A day without dead Russians isn’t a complete day,” says the 30-year-old commander. “We killed around 400 Russian troops over four days last month and destroyed half of their vehicles. We were in immediate contact with the enemy using anti-tank guided missiles, machine-guns, grenade launchers and drone strikes.”
The fight for Vuhledar is key to President Putin’s forces, because seizing the town would give them a gateway between Russian-occupied territories in the
