They might not be going as fast as they desired, but in southern Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces are slowly but surely pushing the Russian occupiers back.

It has been a full month now since Ukraine officially launched its long-awaited summer counter-offensive on June 4. Facing entrenched Russian positions, progress has been halting, with only a handful of villages liberated to date. Each trench line gained has been hard fought for, as the offensive has resembled more of the grinding campaign in Kherson last summer and autumn than the blitzkrieg that stormed through Kharkiv oblast in September.

But no one thought this would be easy. And on the ground itself Ukrainian troops are pushing forward as best they can – particularly the 68th Brigade, positioned in the centre of the southern front line around the village of Velyka Novosilka.

“The process is simple,” says Excalibur, a soldier in the 68th who identifies himself only by his callsign. “The assault brigades enter [an area], destroy, then [the rest of us] come to clear the territory. We run in right after them, clear, destroy, capture [the remaining Russian soldiers] and when the assault calms down, we take the front positions because they come back to recapture those territories,” he says.

The tactic has worked, albeit slowly. The 68th Brigade took a leading role in the capture of Blahodatne, Makarivka and several other villages in the area in mid-June. The Russians did not give them up easily.

“[The enemy] immediately counterattacks,” Excalibur says. “They reinforce [their frontline troops] and try to retake the lost territory. Our task is to take the new positions and fend off their attack while the assault units are preparing to go forward again. It’s us who have to hold the new ground,” he says.

The 68th is one of the most experienced units in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Tasked with holding the southeastern sector of the front line last winter, they faced the brunt of the Russian assault at Vuhledar, where dozens of Russian tanks were destroyed in repeated armoured attacks. 

The 68th repelled them entirely, but at a cost. One officer, going by the codename ‘Dolphin,’ describes how he rose from a company commander to being in charge of an entire battalion – around 500 men – as a result.

“I was a company commander at Vuhledar and [the neighbouring village of] Pavlivka when the enemy began their assault there,” says Dolphin, a 34-year old professional soldier who has been in the military since 2009. “We came there with three companies [of the 68th Brigade] – one led by me and two others with their commanders. Of those two, one commander died and another one made a decision that his life is more important – he deserted and fled. Suddenly, I was the only [company commander] left,” he says.

Dolphin clearly has not forgiven his erstwhile comrade.

“No matter how scared you are, there are people who trust you and people who expect something from you,” he says. You came here, you earned this rank, and you knew where you were going. He decided to just leave. Some people might not consider this treason, but in a commander’s duties it is written that first of all, he is responsible for his personnel. He has to keep them safe, keep them supplied and make sure he executes his orders. He didn’t execute the order and abandoned his men,” Dolphin says.

Stress of battle

The stress of battle has taken its toll on many of the men in the unit, even if they hide it well. Excalibur, for his part, is an ebullient character, smiling and laughing often, as are many of his fellow men. He admits, though, that there are some who are handling the situation less well.

“Not everyone [is coping well], I can say,” Excalibur admits. “There are a small number of people who panic sometimes. People at war change sometimes. But in general, our morale and psychological state is good.”

That holds true for another segment of the 68th: the new recruits who are coming in to replace the casualties.

About 25 men have just arrived in Dolphin’s battalion, new recruits who will replace the casualties taken earlier in the summer offensive. They have completed their two weeks of official Ukrainian military training, often a token process that involves just one trip to the firing range. Fortunately for these men, there are a group of Western trainers here aiding them, in the form of a half-dozen instructors with the Sabre Training and Advisory Group.

Ten or so kilometres behind the front line, the Sabre instructors are leading the 68th’s newest members in a series of drills. These range from medical evacuation, to tactical assaults, to fire control: all the things they should have learned in their original training, but probably didn’t.

“None of the stuff we’re doing here is rocket science,” says Adam, a 28-year old American trainer with Sabre. “This is all in their manuals, translated into Ukrainian, that [their officers] have had for a long time. They just don’t do it and sit around for two weeks instead, so we’re here for another two weeks to help them,” he says.

The discrepancy between the kind of Western supervision that Ukraine’s soldiers have received, versus their officers (who will be in charge of training more Ukrainian soldiers later), is a sticking point.

“There’s been a lot of focus on the Western training of Ukrainian soldiers, but not as much on training officers,” says Ollie, a Canadian instructor with Sabre. “That really becomes clear when we see things like the Mala Tokmachka disaster,” he says, referring to a now-infamous failed assault near the start of the offensive that saw dozens of Ukrainian armoured vehicles damaged or destroyed while grouped in a small cluster.

The cacophony and insanity of war

No amount of drills can truly prepare the recruits for their first combat, however: the constant possibility of a violent death, the cacophony and insanity of war. To this end, the trainers have organised something to help the new soldiers to both anticipate, and properly react to, the stresses of combat: a visit by a military psychologist.

“There are two main types of bad reactions,” the psychologist tells the gathered men. “The first is panic. Despite what you may think, this is less common than the other main problem: stupor, an inability to process or react in the middle of combat,” he says, describing a phenomenon that most Western observers would likely recognise by the term ‘shellshock’.

Breaking shell-shocked soldiers out of this condition can be a delicate matter, as the psychologist demonstrates with a volunteer from the group.

“Let’s take an example,” he says. “Our comrade here fell into a stupor. Let’s say he is standing, but we have to remember that the first step is to cover a person and find some shelter for yourself. If the person fell into a stupor, you evaluate the situation. If he has a gun it can be dangerous for you and the people around you. Don’t underestimate this condition, because if a person is numbed holding a weapon, he can hold the weapon so strongly that you won’t be able to take it away physically. It’s possible he can even shoot you,” the psychologist says.

In the conditions of battle, this can become deadly, the experienced soldiers agree.

“If there is an assault, it’s important to have responsible people by your side that understand what to do and will cover you,” says Excalibur, himself a veteran of many months of combat. “If you see that a man is in panic during the attack, he can throw his gun away and hide in a corner. For the assault, we take battle-tested men that can steadily cover you. So you have to be psychologically adjusted. If you are afraid, your legs are shaking, you better not [come along]. If you doubt or fear, you will be destroyed, you have to understand that,” he says.

In the weeks to come, the men of the 68th – both old and new – will have plenty of opportunities to face that fear as they attack the Russian trenches ahead.