2023.
Standing in mud, a group of Ukrainian soldiers armed with military kit and rations wait nervously be to sent as reinforcements to the eastern town of Bakhmut.
Ages 25 to 52, they are bound for the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a town described by one front-line soldier as "real hell."
NATO has warned Bakhmut could fall to the Russians within days. The Russian mercenary Wagner Group claims to control the town's eastern side, but Kyiv has ordered Ukrainian troops to bolster defenses.
As the group waits in Chasiv Yar, about 5 kilometers to the west, to be taken into the trenches, the dozen men adjust their gear, not knowing exactly where they will be sent.
"It's classified," said one soldier who uses the call sign Kit. "We infantry soldiers are told right before the move."
Months into the battle and after a bitterly cold winter, Ukrainian forces are exhausted.
The main aim now, soldiers say, is to prevent a complete Russian encirclement
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