"Donbas is us. And we are fighting for our country." How Territorial Defence Forces defend Bakhmut

The "Great Battles" project, of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, visited the area of Bakhmut where fierce battles have been ongoing for many months. Our goal is to tell you about a unit that has held the city's defences since the start of this full-scale war, and is hardly ever mentioned by journalists.

The story of the Territorial Defence Forces begins with two scouts, from the Kholodnyi yar brigade [The 93rd Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces]. These scouts took a defensive position in a five-story building on the outskirts of Soledar, and received reinforcements in the evening; four more fighters. Their position was, as it is called, "behind zero". That is, they were semi-encircled by the Russian forces in a difficult and important placement. The six of them had to defend the section of an empty, almost ruined apartment building, which the mercenaries of the Prigozhin Liga private military company wanted to capture very much.

The night passed relatively calmly, with only one Russian forces sniper firing at them; single rounds from his automatic weapon rang out, breaking the silence. With the break of dawn, Russians began their offensive. Initially, a small unit of five Russian soldiers conducted reconnaissance-in-force to establish the number of Ukrainian defenders, what weapons they were firing, and to reveal their combat positions. The Russians then launched a powerful artillery attack, followed by a second artillery volley, almost a platoon [then went on the offensive].

This battle lasted for six hours without break. Mercenaries of the Liga PMC tried to seize the section at any cost. They waged combat at close quarters, at distances sometimes less than one metre. The Ukrainian defenders worked calmly and harmoniously, alternating firing positions. They joked and encouraged each other.

Abandoning their dead near the building, the Russians left. After a short respite, a new round of shelling began followed by a wave of attacks that lasted for 30 hours in a row. Despite this, the Russians did not manage to break into the entrance, nor get further into the city past the position of Soledar's defenders. In that skirmish, the Russians lost at least two units.

"Guys, what battalion are you from?" asked the surprised soldiers of the Kholodnyi yar brigade, when they relaxed their positions to rest. They had imagined that they were fighters from their own brigade [arriving to support them]. They were surprised when these fighters introduced themselves as the Bakhmut Territorial Defence Forces.

"Well, you're really crazy!", this is what they would hear, said the 30-year-old commander of the mortar squad with the call sign "Fizruk" [the call sign means Physical Education teacher]. His brothers-in-arms often praised the combat accomplishments of these Bakhmut residents who formed the Bakhmut Territorial Defence Forces. 

The fact is that with the use of only a small arsenal of weapons, they creatively mastered great risks and solved complex combat challenges. Because yesterday's miners and school teachers, do what professional soldiers rarely dare to do.

It’s a fact,  that the unit secured positions around Bakhmut starting from the first days of the war onwards, and refused to leave for rest. 

Essentially, they are all local. This is their home, and they have nowhere to go.

Surprisingly, the existence of the Bakmut battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces was not only unknown to the readers of Ukrainian media, but also to the soldiers of those brigades who work with Bakhmut locals in the nearby trenches. 

We didn't know either until the officers of the 93rd mechanised brigade mentioned the Bakhmut Battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces on Twitter. They praised the Bakhmut mortar squad and showed footage of them accurately placing mine after mine precisely in Russian trenches.

This compelled us to track down this unit. Their story is surprising and completely disproves Russian propaganda narratives.

"Donbas is fighting for Ukraine. We are Donbas"

Roman, with the call sign "Georgian", was in command of the four fighters that impressed the Kholodnyi Yar soldiers. He is a successful businessman. Before the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he ran nightclubs in Lyman and Siversk in the Donetsk region. A decidedly self-confident, cheerful and energetic middle-aged man, he started those businesses because he enjoys singing and dancing. He says he likes to give people joy.

The war completely destroyed his business. His native village was also destroyed and, in his opinion, will not soon recover from what he experienced. There is nowhere to return to, and after the war, he plans to start a new business from scratch in another region of our great country.

"I will build new places, even better than they were," says Roman.

But that will have to wait until after the war. Now he is fighting for his country and his small homeland, which has been raped by the Russians for eight years. He says that there was no hesitation on 24 February:

"We have known what Russia is since 2014. We live in Donbas and have seen with our own eyes what is happening - who is guilty and who is right. So my decision was clear.

I packed my things and came to the Bakhmut military enlistment office."

And in just a couple of months, a successful businessman was transformed into an effective unit commander and sharp shooter. He says he has no doubts about his decision. He no longer experiences fear in battle, just like the rest of his brothers-in-arms from his company, everything happens easily - routine work, which they try to perform as well as their work was in civilian life.

It is obvious that Roman takes no pleasure in this activity, but he feels that he is obliged to do it.

"They tell me, ‘You kill people.’ And I haven't killed a single person yet. Because those who come to our land to kill our children, rape our women, rob us are not people. People do not do such things. This is evil. So we clean."

"Then in Soledar, did you see the eyes of Russian soldiers?" we ask.

"Yes, we saw them," says the Georgian. "There were moments when we actually fought at close quarters. And their eyes were scared. We heard their radio conversations, and we got the impression that they were being driven here by force. With shouts, with a curse words: ‘Forward, b**ch!’I said, ‘forward!"

Mobilised men in outdated Soviet peacoats were trying to attack us. And Wagner mercenaries were behind them in full gear; with body kits, cameras, and collimators. We repel them, and they are driven forward, and driven, and driven. Russia really treats its servicemen like meat."

"Did you say something to the Russians then?"

"Welcome to Ukraine, b**ch!" laughs the Georgian. "This is generally heard often. We already held more than a dozen positions around Bakhmut, fierce battles were raging everywhere. Then in Soledar, one of them was offered to surrender. We wounded him, he was lying across the wall from us. We offered him to surrender and shouted, "Crawl to us." The person did not want to, but the grenade did its job. That’s it, sorry."

For six months in a row, waves of attacks by overwhelming numbers of Russian invaders have been crashing against the fortress of Bakhmut, like a granite rock. And during all this time, the Russian forces, having lost thousands of soldiers, were only able to advance a few kilometres. According to Roman, the spirit of the Ukrainian fighters is much stronger than that of the invaders.

"If we and the Russians had parity of equipment and artillery, this war would have ended long ago with our victory," assures the Georgian. "The only thing that slows us down is that they have  twenty times more weapons than we do. But Ukrainian soldiers are very brave."

Roman appears very natural in uniform and equipment. It seems that he feels at home in the army. But when we ask him at what moment he felt that he was no longer a businessman, but a soldier, we get an unexpected answer:

"You know, I still really don't want to feel like a soldier. I want to return to that life, to our easy, bright, good life. I don't see myself as a military man. It just happened like this now.

I want to live in a peaceful country, do what I love, raise my daughter, love my wife. And I want to forget all this, like a terrible dream.

I'm not a soldier, no. Just a good person, a citizen of his country, who is now forced to do all these unpleasant things."

Roman believes that Donbas changed radically in February. Before that, some local residents sympathized with Russia. But the invasion dispelled the illusions of most people from the east. The aggressor, in his opinion, is now only supported here by sick people. The choice is made.

"Donbas is fighting for Ukraine," says Roman. "I am Donbas. And our entire battalion, our entire brigade is Donbas."

Uninvented miners and tractor drivers

Do you remember the Russian narrative at the time of the hybrid invasion about the alleged "militia" from "miners and tractor drivers of Donbas"? The Kremlin hid its army under this pretext, which helped to occupy part of the east of Ukraine. But when we arrived at the Bakhmut battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces, we made sure that the miners and tractor drivers who took up arms to fight for Donbas are not a myth. However, they are fighting in the Ukrainian army for the Ukrainian Donbas.

A significant part of the Bakhmut battalion consists of precisely them - local miners and tractor drivers. Simple workers, most of whom are "well over forty", who in February or March came to the military enlistment offices voluntarily or after receiving conscript notes.

Many of them tried to "stay away from politics" until February and considered the Russians to be, if not brotherly, then at least a people close in spirit. This was also the case with Kolyvan, another participant in the battle in Soledar, whom the Georgian introduced us to.

"I used to treat Russia differently. Somewhere deep down, there were some sympathies," admits the fighter with the call sign "Kolyvan". "But when they attacked us as fascists, everything changed. Therefore, when I got the conscription notice, there was not even a shadow of doubt in my mind - I took my backpack and left."

Kolyvan was born and raised in Toretsk. He worked there as station chief at the "Centralna" mine until March. He gave 33 out of 52 years of his life to mining, made a career, and earned decent money. As a leader, he could easily have stayed at the mine, but, without hesitation, he joined the army.

"I am not a military person by nature, I did not serve in the army before," he says. "But when I was called, I immediately went. Because it is necessary to protect the Motherland. This is everyone's duty. How could I not go? How could I then look into my son’s eyes? Where would I hide? But it was not even discussed."

His eldest son is 18 years old. The family is waiting for his father in Dnipro, where Kolyvan managed to visit a couple of times for vacation.

"My son is proud of me. When I visited them, he asked me not to take off my uniform. He said, "Dad, be in uniform."

It is obvious that he is also very proud of his son.

"He said to me, "Dad, do you mind if I get a patriotic tattoo?". Taking an example from me, he wants to join the army. Like, when you come back,  I will go to serve. But it’s too early now, let him stay at home."

His youngest daughter is not even a year old yet. Kolyvan misses her very much.

"When I went to war, she was 3 months old. I did not see her for eight months. When I came on my first leave six months later, my daughter did not accept me, she cried for two days, she was afraid of me. Then she got used to me. The child grew, and began to walk, but I didn’t see these miracles. Well, that's our fate."

Military work is difficult, and age matters, but Kolyvan does not complain, because he understands very well why he is here.

"Not being young anymore. I can't keep up with young people. But I try to keep myself in good shape. Everything is fine, fine."

We heard this reassuring "it's okay" from him many times during our conversation.

Talking about the recent thirty-hour battle in Soledar, this man admits that he was scared.

"We are not heroes, I will not lie. However, when the battle began, everyone calmed down and worked as a single mechanism. We did not feel sorry for the enemy, we perceived it as a routine job. Donbas cannot be brought to its knees. Never," he turns another Russian narrative upside down. "Our land protects us. And we protect it."

Like the rest of the front-line mines, his mine has stopped production, is now partially flooded, but also does not surrender - and it is still working. Kolyvan is confident that his native enterprise will be able to get back on its feet. After the war, he plans to return to the work which he has devoted his entire life to.

"We will restore everything, we will raise Donbas again. We will live even better than we lived before. Everything will be Ukraine. We have changed, and the country will change. In general, we will live differently."

The war brought together hundreds of people who had no points of intersection in their civilian lives and, most likely, would never have met, let alone become friends. It is not surprising that the disaster of war helps us understand each other better.

"I could not even imagine that I, a miner, would have a businessman friend, an owner of night clubs," Kolyvan says about this. "But we met, became friends and have been good friends for eight months."

Our next interlocutor, Serhii Anatoliyovych, does not have a call sign. He is 60 years old, and he thinks it is stupid to invent a new name at that age. On 12 March, he retired and immediately enlisted in the battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces.

"What is there to do at home after you are retired?" he asks in response to our "Why [did he join the battalion]?" "We need to help somehow. It is necessary to protect the country."

Since 1986, this man worked as an agricultural tractor driver in his native Vekhnokamianske. He and two other workers from his agricultural enterprise voluntarily joined the Territorial Defence Forces in March, but still continue to work as well at the agricultural enterprise.

Serhii Anatoliyovych's "weapon" is a yellow grader, which is commonly used by utility workers in most Ukrainian cities. But now he is not plowing fields, but digging trenches - the engineering unit in which Serhii Anatoliyovych serves is engaged in equipping positions and fortified areas.

In the outskirts of Bakhmut, they have to work "at zero" for weeks under heavy fire from the Russian soldiers, because of which the company has already lost several experienced drivers. He was also wounded by a shell fragment two weeks ago. Always smiling, not talkative, he talks about himself extremely reluctantly.

"Anti-tank ditches were dug, shells flew from four sides at once. The excavator was slightly damaged. Well, I got a bit of a hand injury, but I'm already back on track. Vacation for recovery? But there is nowhere to go - the house is destroyed, the village is occupied."

The situation on this part of the front is constantly changing, so there is a lot of work for the combat tractor drivers of the Territorial Defence Forces.

"Was it scary? No, it wasn't. And what to be afraid of? There is nothing to be afraid of anymore," Serhii Anatoliyovych laughs good-naturedly, hinting at his age.

"We stand for the change of life in the country"

Serhii Anatoliyovych is not the only "retired fighter" in the Bakhmut battalion. Another Anatoliyovych, Oleh Ihnatov, is 64 years old. And he was recently wounded too – shrapnel from a tank shell hit his right hand. The hand is still in a cast, but the index finger works.

"This is the most important thing for a machine gunner," says Ihnatov.

Doctors insisted on longer treatment, but Oleh ran away from the hospital to his company.

"But they [doctors] are threatening. But they won't do anything to me, these doctors. As soon as the ring and middle fingers on my right hand are fixed, I will immediately return to my brothers-in-arms."

"But are you over 60 years old and can you no longer serve by law?" we ask.

In response, he is almost offended.

"According to the order of the president, you can serve until the age of 65, if your health allows. It allows me completely!"

Oleh really looks younger than his years. A strong man of medium height, strict, fastidious to those around him - because for many years he managed the state security in the now occupied Horlivka. He remained under occupation for almost two years, continuing to protect state enterprises - Vodokanal (water supply company) and several factories.

At the same time, he did not particularly hide his hostile attitude towards the occupiers. He was tolerated for a while, but at a certain point, he received a warning from acquaintances that the 

Russian secret services were interested in him. He managed to leave, and settled in Bakhmut, where he also headed the state security. On 24 February, he recounts, he woke up from the sounds of explosions and, as soon as he realized what was happening, ran to the military enlistment office.

"Because that's enough - I'm not going to move anymore," Oleh says firmly.

They did not want to take Ihnatov because of his age. He was rejected by two regular army units. They advised him to go to the Territorial Defence Forces.

"And so, since 26 February, I have been here in the Bakhmut battalion of Territorial Defence Forces - it already feels like a native home. I was first a grenade launcher, now a machine gunner. I really liked "Pokémon" (modernised Kalashnikov machine gun - UP), he talks about his new profession with childlike enthusiasm. - When I'm with "Pokémon", I don't care who goes there - Wagner mercenaries or Kadyrov mercenaries. I let them within 200 meters so that I can see clearly, and none of them leave from there."

But the work is hard. The defenders of Bakhmut have to repel several assaults daily. Russian artillery targets their positions for hours between the waves of infantry attacks.

"When they are preparing an attack, they bring in several people and accumulate them in the planting of trees. Then begins a sharp shelling of our positions. We are hiding naturally, and at this time they jump out and start hitting the firing points with "flies" [hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher  - UP]. And then, if they manage to jump thirty meters, they start throwing "lemons" [hand grenade F1 type]."

According to Ihnatov, the approaches to their positions are always littered with the bodies of Russian mercenaries. However, the Russian commanders do not spare the people and stubbornly continue to throw new forces into the offensive.

"I was hit by a tank. Due to my slip-up," Oleh tells about his injury. "I loaded a new round, and the cartridges turned out to be tracer ammunition [Tracer ammunition are bullets or cannon-caliber projectiles, that are equipped with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base that creates a light trail]. I was caught red-handed - they placed five soldiers around my position, I put them all down, but [the light trail from the tracer ammunition] revealed my position, which they failed to locate before for quite a long time. 

And after that turn, they did aim the tank and took us down with the fifth shot. We were saved by the fact that we dug well. A shell exploded a metre from us, but we remained alive. But the guy who was five metres away from was killed because his trench was only up to his chest."

Oleh regrets that during four months of heavy fighting, the defenders had to withdraw all the way to the outskirts of Bakhmut. And I am sure that we will not retreat any more.

"Both I and many other guys have already felt the taste of victory," he shares. "We already have combat experience, we have learned to fight. Victory will be ours."

He strongly denies the supposed pro-Russian nature of the majority of Donbas residents.

"It is not true. Look: there are 16 apartments in one section in my apartment building in Horlivka. 9 families immediately left to the territory controlled by Ukraine without hesitation. Three families are apolitical. And only one family are complete "Lugandons" [people who are pro-Russian separatists and support self-proclaimed Donetsk or Luhansk People’s republics]. I think there are only 10 percent of those who are pro-Russian. Not more. They are ordinary, normal, our people. Not all, of course, but most."

But he is not ready to forgive traitors.

"I promised myself to return to Horlivka," says Ihnatov. He falls silent, looking somewhere inside himself and adds, "Let them wait, I'll be back."

In this phrase, one feels a threat to those who destroyed the life of Oleh himself, his loved ones and millions of ordinary people from the eastern part of Ukraine. But he intends to deal with all this after the war.

"We will deal with everything. We will deal with organised crime, with "thieves", with corrupt officials. We communicate with brothers-in-arms - everyone dreams about it. After the war, life must become completely different. This is what we stand for. We lean on and stand."

"Many recruits did not know which end of the machine gun shoots"

"At first it was difficult to organise people. Because the majority had absolutely no idea about the army. Many did not know the barrel from the butt of a machine gun and which end was shooting," shares their company's memories.

"I chased them at the local stadium, showed them how to work in an open area, as well as indoors. And it helped. Even the guys who recently worked in Soledar thanked us and said that somewhere it was all put aside and came in handy. They received contusions, but they completed the task and all returned alive," says the man.

Unlike most of his subordinates, Sashko Aharkov with the call sign "Kross" is only 27 years old. He has been fighting since he was 19. He was born in Niu-York, near Toretsk.

"Before the war, I used to live in Donetsk for four years. And when all this Russian things started, I really didn't like it all. When, on 14 March 2014, Russian "titushkys" [The Titushky were mercenary agents in Ukraine who posed as street hooligans in sports clothing with the purpose of serving as provocateurs at pro-European and anti-Yanukovych political rallies that would incite violence in order to get protestors arrested] killed my friend, with whom we were in the ultras together and played sports together, in the central square, I realised that something had to be done about it. And then it was the volunteer battalion, and then the Armed Forces."

Unlike his subordinates, he does not have a civilian specialty - he connected his life with the army. Oleksandr served seven years in the Special Operations Forces. But last year, due to heart problems, Aharkov's contract was not extended.

Sasha settled in Toretsk, but he was not destined to live a civilian life.

"It all started in February the day it started, and I got to where I got to. How is the heart now? It's normal, we run, we move," Sashko laughs. "We are soldiers, we have no choice. You have to do your job."

He foresaw the war and prepared for it. At six in the morning on 24 February, he was already at the military enlistment office with all his equipment. But the Toretsk military enlistment office was already packing things and was able to help only with the address of the assembly center in Bakhmut, where Sashko ended up the next day.

"There were a lot of people," he recalls. "In particular, there were many people from Toretsk. Our company now consists of 80 percent of people from Toretsk."

As in other cities, volunteers then stood in long lines to get the opportunity to defend their country. Those who were younger and had no health problems were sent to regular units. The rest entered the battalion of the Territorial Defence Forces, which was just being formed.

"There are mostly elderly people here. Many have health problems. But it’s okay, they fight, and they fight quite well."

Sashko no longer regrets not being able to return to Special Operations Forces. He says that the war is now the same everywhere, and his former brothers-in-arms are now also digging trenches and are also "getting nuts from enemy artillery."

Kross likes to serve in the Territorial Defence Forces, he considers its role in the national resistance extremely important.

"We are all local. We know this area very well, and it really helps, it makes us more effective than the enemy. Plus motivation, most of us came here voluntarily, realising that our families, our children, our homes are behind us. That motivation is very strong."

But he also notes that the motivation of many was formed only after the full-scale invasion. Before that, some of his current subordinates repeated Russian propaganda clichés that Donbas was allegedly being attacked by the Ukrainian army. 

"But now they saw who was shooting where. Under shelling, your worldview changes. And now our Toretsk miners, who used to be somewhat pro-Russian, are the first to run to ask for the red and black "Bandera" [Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera] chevron. As they say in the army, a bullet in the head changes a lot in your thinking, even when it hits the hip," Sashko laughs.

According to him, during these months "miners and tractor drivers" became real soldiers. They learned to enjoy this job and don't even want to leave their positions anymore.

"Yesterday there was an order from the combatant to send my men on rotation, and they say, "No, we don't want it, we don't need it." Because people see the results of their work. When the neighbours say, "Wow, we thought you were going to be useless, but you guys are really cool!" - this is our source of pride. This raises morale, the boys understand that they did not study for anything, they know something and because of this, naturally, they do not want to leave."

Aharkov tells about one of the battles in the summer on the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut. Then, one of the mechanised brigades went on rotation, and their unit was left alone to deal with the Russian soldiers. At that time, 28 soldiers held a difficult position under continuous artillery fire for more than a week.

"There were more than a thousand strikes on an area not larger than 250 by 250 metres, with 152mm Howitzer ammo. Shots from their tank were no longer counted. When we entered our position, there were trees and bushes. A week later the fire power had cleared away the underbrush and trees, a clear field remained."

Ukrainians managed to hold positions, and when the Russian forces lost more than twenty of their soldiers - they retreated.

"My correct plan worked there - we mined the approaches," recalls Kross. "At that time, the mercenaries of Wagner and Liga were walking almost to their full height. But they didn’t succeed.

They thought that we would lose our positions with their very first attack after a week of shelling, but it evolved differently. They sent out men climbing trees to spot us; our boys mowed them down. They climbed into a few more trees; those were blown up. They then stormed onto the field; well, they didn't stand a chance there."

Presently, Aharkov is a chief sergeant. The previous commander of their company died in combat last August; Sashko had to take command.

He hasn't been able to earn the rank of officer yet, as he has not received enough points, but he is sure that he will have it next year. Kross plans to remain in the army after the war and wants to contribute to the reforms, which the army badly needs.

"We need to get rid of Soviet traditions," said the man confidently.

We will continue the story about the fighters of the Bakhmut Territorial Defence battalion in the next publications of the "Great Battles" project.

Authors: Kostiantyn Rieutskyi and Oleksii Bratushchak

"Great Battles" is a joint project of the Territorial Defenсe Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainska Pravda. Its purpose is to preserve the memory of the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The project team collects the stories of Ukrainian defenders in order to recreate the events of each of the key episodes of this war. To document and honour everyone and display the great panorama of the battle of Ukrainian people for their freedom and independence.

Translation: Elina Beketova

Editing: David Matthews

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