Another soldier, who joined up last year and asked to be identified only by his first name, O leksiy, said that his unit had taken heavy losses as Russian troops directed artillery fire and aerial bombs onto their positions. “We were shot like on a shooting range,” he said. “A drone was flying above us and correcting the artillery fire.” Their positions were in former Russian positions, hemmed in by minefields, he said, and the Russian forces were able to keep them pinned down and under constant drone surveillance.
Soldiers were running out of ammunition and water but could only sneak in and out of their positions in ones or twos, on foot, when the light was poor just before dawn and at dusk, he said.
