BLOODSHED IN BAKHMUT: Fearless Fighters in Ukraine's Deadliest Meat Grinder | WELT Documentary

Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The scene of the war's bloodiest battle to date. Starting in May 2022, Russia attacked the city for 10 months. Resistance was fierce. Reporter Ibrahim Naber tells the story of this battle through the fate of three Ukrainian soldiers. Vadim Adamov, Yuri Samanyuk and Mikhailo Alexenko. Only one of them will survive the second year of the war. Ibrahim Naber travels to the war zone several times. He accompanies the soldiers to the front. He meets their relatives, their families, their friends. The Ukrainians pay a high price in the fight for their land. February 2023. Most of Bakhmut's 70,000 inhabitants have fled. Only a few thousand still live in and around the ruins of this bombed-out city. Their weekly market is under fire. All the stores here have closed. Nobody's here anymore. What is the situation here? The situation? Absolute shit. Always, if you ask me like that. Do you know what I mean? I can't put it any other way. Shelling, bombings. My two stores were burned down. Don't you want to leave the city? Only when a Russian tank appears in front of me. I stand on the side of Ukraine. As long as the Ukrainian army is here, I will be here too. Those still holding out in Bakhmut seek shelter in basements from the Russian bombs and shells. Most people at home no longer have access to electricity and water. For weeks, normal life in the town has ended. Hello. I'm a journalist from Germany. What is your name? Pyotr. How old are you? 72. What is the situation? What is life like here now? What can I say? Look. It was quiet at first. Then suddenly something hit me again. Parts of a bomb only hit my lip. I was lucky. Why don't you leave? Well, I don't want to leave my son. Bakhmut is the war's main front at the beginning of 2023. For weeks, the Ukrainians defend their city against assaults. Russian troops capture the first districts on the outskirts of the city. The Ukrainian army still holds the center under its control. That was part of the Russian winter offensive. They attempted to take Slovyansk and Kramatorsk directly from the east. In Bakhmut itself, in the village, as many units of the Wagner mercenary troops as possible were deployed. Most of them were prisoners. In the view of the Russian army, they were worth nothing and could be used up. Bakhmut became a symbol of this war through international media coverage. Bakhmut was on everyone's lips and became synonymous with this trench warfare and the enormous number of casualties. The battle for the city is of great political importance to Ukrainian President Zelensky. At the end of 2022, he takes a trip to the U.S., where he campaigns for further military support. Ukraine didn't fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking. He brought a flag with the signatures of soldiers deployed to Bakhmut. Zelensky had also visited Bakhmut shortly beforehand. The media coverage had been enormous. So the flag was a powerful political symbol. Reporter Ibrahim Nabar is in the war zone. Soldiers from the Ukrainian 93rd Brigade are with him. They are responsible for ground and aerial reconnaissance in Bakhmut. Drone pilot Vadim Adamov is 18 years old. Okay, so our plan today is, first of all, not to die. It would be great, but the second fall is we are going into the Bakhmut. Then we are parking our cars in a place we know where we can put them. Because, you know, the car is a great disadvantage when you're looking for a position, when everyone is seeing you, etc. It's not a good thing, you know. Vadim operates small reconnaissance drones. His task is to detect Russian positions. It's up to him whether he accompanies the team to the front. He decides to go. But he does so at his own risk. How close will this be to Russians, like approximately? We are going to be approximately, approximately one and a half kilometer. One and a half kilometers, okay. That's inside Bakhmut, right? We can go closer if you want. Ibrahim Nabar captures the mission on his phone. He's the only one allowed to accompany the soldiers. The group must remain a small and unrewarding target for the Russian attackers. Vadim and Alexander are tasked with finding two new reconnaissance positions. There are things you should look for, it's shelter, some kind of, you know, whatever is here, some kind of trench, some kind of shelter, whatever is, whatever you can find. Anything is better than being on the level of the drones. If only we could get there. I don't understand why there's no ladder leading down to the basement. Would be cool. This basement is not suitable. The soldiers decide to continue their search outside. Then the impacts in the vicinity increase. Vadim turns back around. Into the basement? Come on, let's wait for the explosions to end. It wasn't far, but it wasn't even close, considering that we are still here. I suggest we stay here for a moment and listen to how the shelling develops. Honestly, shit, we're a highly visible target right now. Okay, here we go. You wait for him to go a little bit forward so you don't go in the crowd. Like 10 meters behind you, right? Here is very long distance. Maintaining a distance from each other, the spotters advance deeper into the city. Almost every building shows signs of destruction. The neighborhood looks deserted. The soldiers inspect a school and its gymnasium. Destroyed school, right? Yeah, not a long time ago there was like kids playing and stuff. Is this outgoing? Vadim does not answer. Before the Russian invasion, Bakhmut was full of life, known for its good wine and the nearby salt mines. But now the town has been under constant fire for months. For the soldiers, every mission here carries a high risk, a deadly risk. It's a hell of a devastated city, you know. It's really scary to think that the same thing could have happened to Kyiv, you know, where I'm from, when I spent all my life, when all of my friends, family live, where my first school is, all of the memories from childhood. Vadim and Alexander stop at a friendly unit. The basement of an abandoned house serves as a shelter. These rooms are sleeping quarters in the middle of hell. It is uncertain how long Bakhmut's defenders will be here. They know that the enemy is pushing forward by any means necessary. Bakhmut is threatened with encirclement. The commander of the small Ukrainian force is Yuri Samanyuk, but everyone calls him Yura. I'm 13. On the radio here, I'm 13. It's 11, yeah. I get it. And what is your job? Are you, like, a drone operator? No, no, no. Head of the mortar battery. Oh, okay. And the grenade launchers. Are they pushing really hard here? Yeah. Every, every night and every day. Soldier in the back. Yeah, it's very hard. It's my best friend. Yeah. You know each other for a long time? Yeah, yeah. It's my, like, a brother. We are from one village. Where do you come from? I'm from, Ivano-Frankivsk region. I was born there. But I live near Kyiv, 12 years near Kyiv. And he is from my village. And I put him here in 93 Brigade. The soldiers have settled into their temporary accommodation. It's our loft-style basement. Two-star? Yeah, maybe three. We have internet. We have electricity. And we have food. That's all we need. Militarily, they need far more, as the conversation shows. The situation in the middle of Bakhmut is tense. The attackers are advancing meter by meter, bloody battle by bloody battle. What is your age? I didn't ask this. 36. 36, yeah. Family? Yeah, two kids. Now live in Slovakia. Oh, very good. With the wife, yeah? Yeah, with my ex-wife. Now I have a second wife, second marriage. In this war, I married a second time. Yuri Samanyuk's new wife is Halina. The bride wears white. The groom is in camouflage. It is a wartime wedding. Is she a soldier, too? No, no, no. But she has two kids, too. Then I have four kids now. What are you fighting for? It's a big question. I don't want that they come to my home. I need to stop it here. But my village was under the occupation near Kiev, too. My village is a little bit broken. Vadim uses a break to call his mother. She has fled to Germany. The soldiers have access to the internet thanks to portable Starlink receivers, even on the front line. They communicate via encrypted services. Mom, how are you? Everything good with you? Zygin? Aha, a village near Zygin. It's time to leave. Vadim and Alexander set off again. They're in search of a safe position for the reconnaissance drone flights. We're moving now to a new position. All you can hear the whole time are noise and explosions. Why is it getting so... It's getting a little intense now, right? That's a Vasilijuk motor, isn't it? No, a Vasilijuk fires four shots at the same time. It sounds like... The soldiers discover a house. From the outside, it looks perfect for their purposes. They want to take a closer look. A locked gate does not present an obstacle. The house is abandoned and badly damaged. The residents seem to have fled a long time ago. The belongings are scattered all around. They must have escaped in a great hurry. Over there would be perfect. From where? Oh, yeah, from the apartment there. While Alexander inspects the basement, Vadim takes in the almost surreal situation in the living room. It's always weird, you know, to be in a place just like this because it feels like there was some kind of life, you know. This guy, he was really into wrestling. He was really into physics, whatever. He was feeding his fishes, etc. And then everything in this house just stopped. I don't want, you know, my 70-year-old sister to grow up and, you know, go to war. So we should just have to end it up now. Whatever time it takes, you know, it feels personally when you are 18 and you are in a war. It feels like it will last for eternity because I got out of school, I spent a year working, like shooting stuff and working as a director, and then a war. Vadim sets up his surveillance drone, which he carries in his backpack. The device can be bought almost anywhere. It is his weapon on the front line. Some are equipped with infrared cameras. They all have zoom lenses. Vadim's drone takes off on a test flight over the Russian-occupied territories and immediately detects suspicious movements. Five people. Yeah, it's Russian. The enemy soldiers have no idea how close they are to death. It's a test flight and we don't have a connection with an artillery. We can't tell them right now. But, you know, I'm shooting on a video of their position and then I will bring more materials to our command center point and then we'll be able to analyze it. The experiment convinces Vadim and Alexander to use the house as their observation post. They continue their mission in Bakhmut to find yet another position. Despite the shelling, there still seem to be civilians nearby. It's unbelievable how people can still live here. I've just seen a house with a sign on the gate. It translates as people still live here. So ******* tired of this walking. It's incredible. When I hear these noises, I got really scared. But you, like you both are so used to it, right? Yeah, when you were hearing them over and over again, you're starting to, you know, to get the sounds of everyone and you're hearing, is this shooting in your direction? Is this shooting in another direction? The gunfire and impacts nearby don't seem to impress the soldiers. This house is also deserted. There's no sign of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, Vadim and Alexander move on. Can't get access, so we go. Can't access this position. The shelling intensifies. The impacts are closer. The soldiers seek cover in the basement of another unit they're working with. Here, war reporter Ibrahim Naba meets 28-year-old soldier Mikhailo. My nickname is MC. At the moment, we are currently in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. The Russian troops are about one kilometer away from us. One, more or less one kilometer. And I am working here with the other guys on a mortar. Mikhailo volunteered to join the army after Russia's invasion. After just a few months, he was transferred to the front. According to him, 85% of his comrades have already been killed or injured in Bakhmut. There are only 15 or 16 of our guys who are still here. The others can no longer fight. One thing is clear. At this stage of the battle, the Russian attackers have the upper hand, both in terms of personnel and material. The Russians have fighter planes in action here, helicopters, lots of mortars, lots of artillery, lots of ammunition and mines. And we simply don't have enough people. And that is why we have to be smarter than them. The young soldier grew up in eastern Ukraine. For him, Russia's attack on his country is incomprehensible. My comrade here, he is from Donetsk, and I am from Slovyansk. We have spoken Russian all our lives. We spoke it before the war, and we still speak it today. It's everyone's free decision here to speak what you want. Now, we don't want to let the weapons speak. But the fact is, we have to. Because if we don't do it now, if we don't fight, we will all die. We don't want to negotiate with Russia. We don't want to accept their rules. You know, we just want every single of our territories back because it's ours. The will and morale of the defenders seem unbroken. But everyone is reporting heavy losses. They have too few fighters, too few weapons, too little ammunition. When the soldiers stopped by Yuri's basement, again on the way back, the young commander talks openly about another problem. Russia is advancing through the city block by block. Actually, it's, there is like a street fight going on, right? Yeah, yeah, it's street fight, real street fight. On the outskirts? Yes, yes, and it's very hard. And the Russians also have like snipers here too, right? Yes, and they work mostly at night. They have thermal visual scopes and it's a very big problem, second problem after artillery. We have many losses from snipers. At nightfall, the team leaves the embattled town. Yuri and Mikhailo stay in their positions in Bakhmut. Vadim wants to return to the combat zone the next morning. For reporter Nava, the journey continues through the night on board the Avstryka, a former school bus converted into a mobile military hospital. Ukrainian soldiers from the frontline region near Bakhmut are treated here on their way to the next hospital. A young team of doctors looks after the wounded. Many have been seriously injured in the fighting. We have now on board 12 soldiers and for the regular renewal, it will be one or two persons maximum. Current situation on the frontline is turbulent, so in some regions, in some areas, it is very aggressive, very severe losses of our soldiers. We understand that these guys, they all, they all are heroes who, who came to work to defend us all, and me, including me. So, first of all, my job is to show them respect, to give them that help that they need, to get them alive to hospital. We had one guy, he was really, you know, dehydrated, starved. He didn't eat for five days, and he, he cried when we fed him, really. He said something like, oh my God, it's, it's unbelievable. I, I really dreamed of some crackers and some juice or even water. After almost four hours, the bus reaches the hospital. Everyone has survived that night. The young doctors head straight back to the front, where many more wounded are waiting. Spring 2023. The fierce battle for Bakhmut continues. Ukrainian troops are desperately fighting against the Russian encirclement. By mid-April 2023, more than half of the city is already in Russian hands. Ukrainian President Zelensky still refuses to withdraw his troops. The dispute within Ukrainian leadership was whether to hold on to the city or to give it up. For political reasons, Zelensky and his advisor Yermak decided to hold on to the city, even in the late stages of the battle. From a military point of view, there are few reasons for Ukraine to sacrifice so many soldiers in Bakhmut. According to military analysts, the strategic importance of the city is low. Bakhmut was a meat grinder for both sides during the entire battle for the Russians and during the final battle for the Ukrainians as they tried to defend Bakhmut. Vadim and Yuri continue to fight directly in Bakhmut in the spring. Meanwhile, Mikhailo's unit is being moved to Slovyansk, about 40 kilometers from Bakhmut. Mikhailo captures this footage on his phone. On March 27, 2023, he and his comrades go to the front near Liman and come under fire. In a message, he writes, very cold, but alive. On April 1, Russian troops discover the position of Mikhailo's unit. The enemy immediately opens fire. They hit our hideout. All the men have concussions. April 6, there is further shelling. Mikhailo writes, we're suffering great losses. I don't even want to write about the terrible things that are happening here and in Bakhmut. In mid-April, the young soldier is deployed to the front near the small town of Kremlin. Mikhailo continues to document his life in the trenches. Again, his position is shelled. He films the soldiers sharing a tin of peaches. It is to be his last recording. Less than an hour later, shortly after half past five in the evening, a shell hits his position. Mikhailo dies. It is April 15, 2023. Toskavets in the west of Ukraine. Mikhailo's parents live here now. They had to leave their eastern Ukrainian hometown of Slovyansk in the early months of the war. Father Oleg works as a teacher. Mother Nelly is a social worker. They talk about the moment they learned of their only son's death. It was Sunday, April the 16th. Easter. Yes, exactly, Easter. In the morning, everything was fine. The sun was shining. Then I received a call at around 3 p.m. It was the paramedic of his brigade. She told us, your son Mikhailo has died. I shouted, that's not true. And the paramedic said, he died a hero. Let's decide where to bury him. In Lviv? Because he was part of a brigade from Lviv. They took him to Slovyansk first. The parents tell us that war is part of their family's history. It has been for generations. When he was a child, we didn't buy him any toy weapons, because we were teachers. And my father always said that the war would end with his generation. My father was sent to the front when he was 16. My grandfather also went to war. Their son always had many friends. Mikhailo graduated from school with a gold medal for outstanding performance. He went on to study political science. During the summer vacations, he volunteered at a foundation for the reconstruction of Ukraine. According to Nelly and Oleg Alexenko, Mikhailo enlisted in the military shortly after the Russian attack in 2022. One day he presented us with a decision he had already made. Mom, I've been called up. I'm getting ready for the front now. In June 2022, he told us his unit was leaving. At the time, he wasn't allowed to tell us where they were going. We later found out that they were in the Kharkiv region. We had an agreement. If possible, he would write to us every day. The most important words he wrote to us were, all good, or all okay. He often sent pictures of their food. I sent photos of mushroom soup, fruit, watermelon. These pictures were important to him, because I was always very worried about him. Otherwise, he sent us almost nothing. When did you see Mikhailo the last time? On February 24, 2022. He was already stuck in the barracks when we came here to western Ukraine. He told us, I can't come to you. Nobody will let me out of here. So, you are the one who saw him for the last time, not us. When he was buried, he was in the coffin. I never saw my son again. Ibrahim Naber shows Mikhailo's parents the footage he took of their son in Bakhmut. They're seeing these videos for the first time. Is it true Mikhailo never told you that he was in Bakhmut? No, he didn't. He never told us exactly where their positions were. After their son's death, the Ukrainian army sent his cell phone to his parents. Mother Nelly found a video on it. She shows it to us. Mikhailo and his comrades sing, I am father's only son. Let me go out and celebrate. What did he die for? For what? As Naber says his goodbyes, Nelly and Oleg tell us they were looking forward to having grandchildren. The war took their son and this wish away from them. The fate of Mikhailo Alexenko's parents is shared by thousands of Ukrainian families. The country is losing its generation in the trenches and ruins of cities ravaged by Putin's war of aggression. Reporter Ibrahim Naber returns to eastern Ukraine. It is a journey of over 1300 kilometers. Plenty of time to think. He arrives in Slovyansk. Mikhailo Alexenko grew up here. On this afternoon, the city exudes something like joy. A friend of the soldier is waiting in the center of town. Mike Markush met Mikhailo years ago at a summer camp. The trained software engineer is also a soldier fighting for his country. Like everything else in the country, Ukrainian cemeteries have changed. They've grown fast. Everywhere there are pictures of people in uniform and flags. Putin's invasion of Ukraine leaves cities destroyed and souls wounded. Do you sometimes like think about is this like the price we have to pay? Is it worth? Is it is there any answer to that? Like we have to pay. We have no choice if we want to survive and if we want to have some future. But we are really like dependent on and it's our fault. We are totally dependent on supply from other countries so we don't have enough anything. And armor, vehicle, drones, fighters, which we don't have, we compensate with people. Do you fear to die? Do you think about this? Of course I should carry on fears. But I'm doing my best like not to do it. And also I think my family cares more. My daughter told to my wife a few weeks ago that she don't want to be an orphan. Mike Markush is also part of a drone team. He was deployed to the front line a few months after Mikhailo. He felt how much his friend had changed during his deployment in Bahmut. I think after he came to the Bahmut, so it was really bad there. He told he don't want to tell me about these horrible things happening there. And horrible things is not just about Russians. Yeah, it's also about our army, about our commanders, which just waste someone's lives. In May 2023, the Ukrainian resistance in Bahmut is broken. Russian troops conquer the city. Pictures of the then triumphant, now dead leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, go around the world. At the end of May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky concedes the loss of Bahmut. The city has become a symbol, above all, for the slaughter of thousands of people on both sides. The estimated loss on the Russian side is between 50,000 to 60,000 men. Only in Bahmut? In Bahmut alone. The loss for the Ukrainians was probably also very high. But the figures vary widely. The main problem for the Ukrainians was that many experienced officers and commanders fell in Bahmut. These people would have been needed later in the counter-offensive. The second problem with Bahmut was that most of these losses occurred in a late phase. It gave the Ukrainian population, and parts of the army, the impression that soldiers were just being used as cannon fodder. For a long time, Bahmut stood for the strength of the Ukrainian resistance. Now it also stands for a missed retreat. In hindsight, Ukraine should have left Bahmut at the end of February. This is from a purely military point of view, not a political one. Vadim Adamov and Yuri Samanyuk survive Bahmut. They leave the city a few weeks before its fall. At the end of May, Yuri writes in a message that he is now at a training ground in central Ukraine. Vadim is stationed in Dnipro, to the south. In June, the two meet again on the front in the southeast. The long-awaited Ukrainian summer offensive is about to start. One of the objectives? The breakthrough to the Sea of Azov. Modern weapons are supposed to bring about the victory. Expectations are high around the world. They're too high. After only a few kilometers, the counteroffensive gets stuck in Russian minefields. On the evening of June 25, Vadim sends a message from this front region in the southeast. Months later, war reporter Ibrahim Naba accompanies Ukrainian soldiers to the frontline area near Robotina. A few kilometers from the spot where Yuri was killed, traces of fierce fighting are still visible. There is equipment left behind by Russian soldiers. Weapons, body parts. Conversations on the ground give the impression that the Ukrainian soldiers never stood a chance. Not with the weapons available to them. Not amid these minefields. Late summer 2023 in Kiev. Life in the capital is different. Everything is far away from the front lines. Cafes and cinemas are open. The streets are full. But billboards commemorate the dead of the war. Yuri Samonyuk's wife Halina wears the number 13 on her t-shirt. 13 was her husband's military nickname. The ceremony for Yuri took place here on the Maidan. People came to say goodbye to him. All those who couldn't come to Vorokhta, the city where Yuri was born. Halina brings along footage of the ceremony. In Ukraine, it is customary to pay respects to the fallen soldiers this way before the official funeral. There were lots of little things in our relationship that connected us. We listened to the same music. We liked the smell of incense sticks. We loved meditation and dancing. We got to know each other through dancing. Was he a good dancer? Yes. She and Yuri were together for almost three years. After his deployment in Bakhmut, they met one last time. Then he had to leave for the summer offensive. The news of his death came by phone. At some point, I received a call from an unknown number. I picked up the phone and my heart was... it immediately went cold. I heard the strange voice on the phone saying, Halina, is it you? That's how I found out about his death. Halina, it's like a completely new situation for you and for many other wives who lost their husband. How do you manage to get back to life? It's really very difficult. I only got through the first few days thanks to my and Yuri's friends. They didn't leave me alone for a moment. They even spent the night with me. Some came, some went, but they didn't leave me alone. My youngest son took me by the hand. He's 11 years old and he said to me, Mom, don't blame yourself for anything. Don't blame yourself for anything. And I beg you, please, you have to work through everything. Please go to a therapist. After our talk on the Maidan, Halina invites us into her home. She lives in a small village outside Kyiv. Halina wants to show us the parcel she received from the Ukrainian army. A box containing her dead husband's belongings. This is a certificate from the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces. And this is our wedding photo. His hair were different. Halina, do you know exactly what happened when they got attacked? Was it a kamikaze throw? No, it was artillery fire and shrapnel. A piece of shrapnel got him. When I received his protective vest, I saw that it had been damaged here on the side. I asked his mates in the military what had happened. And they said that Yuri had been hit on the side and neck. Vadim Adamov survives. He survives both the battle for Bakhmut and the Ukrainian summer offensive. Vadim is now 19 years old. After months at the front, the young soldier for the first time has a few days off. He's consumed by the loss of his two comrades. He shared a special friendship with Yuri in particular. Yuri was one of the brightest persons I ever met. Not only on the warfare, you know, not only Bakhmut, but I think in my whole life. And he had his platoon really disciplined. But at the same time, he was like a mentor for all of these guys, for all of his members. You know, he was really an open-hearted person. And this is the thing that was amazing about him. These losses, are they motivation for you to fight on? Or is it like a weird perspective to see it like this? Every death of your friend, of your fellow soldier, it leaves a little scar in your soul, I guess. And first think about the scars that you feel this pain, and it gets you more motivated to do your job, to cover infantry, to do your job, to do my job as an air reconnaissance fire team, to prevent another death. It's not yet clear what traces the months in Bakhmut have left behind. Vadim looks back on the time with mixed feelings. Bakhmut was my place when I met war for the first time, like real war, like real participating in it. And the small Ukrainian city that no one really heard before the war, learned me how to be a soldier, taught me how to be a soldier. Even though there was a lot of hard moments, also there was a lot of heartful moments, the moments that I do remember, and the moments that changed every one of us who was working there. How did you learn to deal with losses of friends, of people you really know, like Mikhail or Jura? Is there any way to deal with that? Yes, there is a way to deal with a lot of your friends dying, like in war movies, when someone dies, they sit and they smoke, like, oh, it's so hard. No, from my experience, everyone is making jokes about it, and it is some kind of compensatory mechanism of it, and it works. This is my way, I mean, just joke about everything, and you won't have problems about dealing with it psychologically. At least for now, maybe after war, but you need to survive this period, and then we will see. Vadim Adamov is now back on the front line, just like tens of thousands of other men and women. Russia's army continues to attack towns and villages every day. On each of these days, Ukraine fights for its freedom and for its survival.