Ukraine War: ‘If we go home, a lot of inexperienced soldiers will die’

Under the rich, leafy cover of the Ukrainian spring, an artillery unit awaits.

Only a fraction of their job is firing rockets from their 50-year-old launcher. Most of their time is spent digging a new bunker into the hillside.

They’re outgunned and outmanned by the Russian invaders, 5km (3 miles) away in the eastern Donetsk region, who are inching closer.

Incoming American ammunition is expected to help, but how the Ukrainian government is addressing its need to recruit is controversial.

A new mobilisation bill passed earlier in April was criticised for not including a limit on time served. A clause aimed at demobilising soldiers after three years was dropped at the army’s request.

Now, war-weary troops have told the BBC the military needs to “rethink” how it recruits.

Despite Kyiv lowering the conscription age to find replacements, it’s not just a numbers game.

Thousands of trained troops like Oleksandr, a radio operator in the 21st separate Mechanised Brigade, have been fighting for the best part of two years without a proper rest.

“If we go home,” he says, “inexperienced soldiers might be able to hold the line against the Russians, but a lot of them will die.”

He taps his handset in a bunker where he also sleeps with four other soldiers. The thickness of the air tells you it’s well lived in.

Outside, the woodland provides an illusion of calm, periodically jarred by a whistling artillery shell overhead.

This time last year, the arrival of spring’s hard soil brought a sense of optimism with an anticipated counter-offensive. The conditions make it easier to move men and machinery.

Today, it just makes these troops’ job of digging new defences more difficult.

“My men have become professionals after fighting for so long,” says their commander with the call sign “Chyzh”, proudly.

He points to their mobile rocket launcher under camouflage netting.

“They know each vehicle is like a woman,” he claims. “Each one is individual, with her own whims and characteristics.”