Russian mercenaries bombard Bakhmut as Moscow searches for a win

Russian mercenaries bombard Bakhmut as Moscow searches for a win

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Bakhmut, Ukraine
CNN
 — 

In the ruins of an apartment block tarred with soot and clouded in dust amid constant shelling, a small group of Ukrainian soldiers are face to face with a new type of Russian enemy: mercenaries, some of whom may be convicts sent to the front line.

The battle is as heated as it is crucial around the city of Bakhmut. Russian positions are within 200 meters of the Ukrainian military unit that CNN has joined. The unit is caught in a gruesome artillery duel, sheltering in basements, and using commercially purchased drones as the best line of defense and intelligence.

Through broken windows, from inside rooms littered with rubble, Ukrainian soldiers look across the neighboring field, pockmarked with countless blackened craters from artillery impacts.

“They can see us here,” said one Ukrainian soldier, pointing into the distance.

This is…

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