Arizona state university.
Amna: As we approach the
one-year anniversary of Russia's
invasion of Ukraine, a look at
the front lines.
Russian forces have launched
offensives in three areas of the
donbass region.
Nick Shifrin and videographer --
a videograper visited three
places along the front.
Some images in this story are
disturbing.
Nick: They rode to Ukraine's
first tank brigade's position is
bumpy and tense.
A sergeant tells us to stay low
and move fast.
Trees provide the best cover.
Our guide calls ahead about our
position using code words.
They referred to us as "Aunts,"
so we go marching in single file
on the same path Ukrainian
soldiers take.
The Russian line is only 1.5
miles away.
We've just heard an explosion
nearby, so we are just taking a
little bit of cover.
We are trying to walk along the
tree line so we are not too
visible, trying to get to these
Ukrainian trenches here.
How are you?
Trees may conceal but do not
protect from the incoming.
The trench is the safest
defense.
Ukraine's frontline is 700 miles
long.
This trench, just one section,
1000 feet, eight feet high, and
where this unit has deployed for
3.5 months.
Igor joined the military in 2014
after the initial Russian
invasion.
He was recalled a year ago this
week.
>> They are trying to attack our
direction and pushed through our
defenses.
We are holding our position.
We are doing everything possible
to not let this happen.
Nick: Have they launched frontal
assaults?
>> Small groups, 3-4 tanks and
infantry.
The artillery is working.
That is how they do it.
Nick: Ukraine's infantry is
tasked with the sometimes
terrifying mission of holding
the line.
Not all of them have made it.
>> We've had wounded.
We have had killed.
It is a difficult subject.
I don't want to talk about it.
Translate that.
Nick: You don't want to talk
about it.
>> It's difficult to talk about.
I don't want to talk about it.
Any other questions?
Nick: Igor lives where he
fights.
He tries his best to keep out
the cold.
Everyone here seizes the quiet
moment when they can.
He has faith that Ukraine will
win, but he predicts it will
take years.
>> The world should know that
while we are fighting the enemy
here, the world is safe, and the
world should help us with
everything they can and give us
weapons so we can ensure it
won't happen in their countries.
We are capable of stopping the
enemy.
Just give us the weapons.
Nick: Tanks are the unit's
primary weapon.
The region is flat.
To push through Russian lines,
they will need more modern
tanks, but this tank was
originally built in the 1970's.
>> They are old, and because
they are old, they break all the
time.
You don't have confidence that
your tank will work tomorrow.
We need new weaponry because
these tanks are twice as old as
I am.
Nick: Until new weapons arrive,
all this unit can do is use the
armor to hold the line against
the larger Russian force.
>> In order to destroy the enemy
and be more effective, we need
heavy weapons.
Without tanks, we aren't doing
anything right now.
It is not easy to destroy a
stationary firing position, even
a machine gun.
Nick: And Russia has a web of
stationary positions.
They still control 20% of
Ukraine and have spent months
digging in.
Russian tank traps and barriers
feel Ukraine's south and east
and run up to the northern part
of the eastern front, where we
visited next.
Russia controlled this land a
few months ago, so to prevent a
Ukrainian counteroffensive, they
mined the fields we drove
through.
>> The Russians?
>> In front of us.
Nick: The mortar unit positions
itself as close as possible to
Russian troops and as deep in a
forest.
The more isolated, the harder to
target.
The commander is a 46-year-old.
The frontline here has not moved
an inch since they arrived nine
months ago.
Do you have the weapons you need
to fight effectively?
>> No, we don't have enough
weapons.
We don't have a large enough
caliber.
Largest we keep is 82
millimeters, and we need.at
least
120 millimeters we keep telling
our commanders, but now no one
is providing that to us.
Nick: They've been fighting for
a year, but that doesn't mean it
seems normal.
They pass his hometown in the
country's west.
Did you think you would be here
a year later?
>> I never thought I would spend
so much time here.
I am not young.
I am not fit for the army.
I thought they would train me
and let me go home, but it all
happened in a very different
way.
Nick: They use drones to spot
Russian targets, and then, 20
rounds in about three minutes.
They adjust the mortar back to
the original target and repeat.
But they admit they are limited
by the quantity and quality of
their ammunition, and that means
the best this unit can do is
hold the line against the
Russian troops they continue to
target.
The next day, we headed to the
outskirts of Russia's primary
goal, bock moved.
U.S. Officials have raised with
Ukraine falling back to defend
Ukraine calls bakhmut a symbol
of was a stance.
The city has been largely
abandoned or destroyed, and the
fighting has been fierce,
targeting Russia's wagoner
group.
The U.S. Assesses it has taken
30,000 casualties.
Wagner's owner posted this photo
this morning, identifying the
bodies as those killed just
yesterday.
Ukrainian soldiers fighting for
the city have witnessed some of
the most brutal battles of the
last year.
>> They are sending their
soldiers as cannon fodder.
We target their equipment and
soldiers, but they keep coming
and coming and keep dying, and
even then, they keep coming.
Nick: This man leads the
artillery unit.
There are other units with more
advanced equipment, but the vast
majority are like this one.
Their self-propelled artillery
is from the 1970's.
The brigade gave us this video
from a surveillance drone of
what it said was its artillery
hitting its target.
They and everyone here say that
bakhmut is worth it.
>> This place is strategically
important, but first and
foremost, this is our land, and
every inch of our land is of the
utmost importance because people
are dying for it.
If we give up bakhmut, we would
be giving up the lives of those
who have been defending it for
such a long time.
Nick: Have you lost men?
Have you lost friends?
>> We've all lost friends.
We've all lost someone in this
war and keep losing.
That is how it goes.
This is war.
You can't do anything about it,
but these are losses that cannot
be prevented.
They just happen because people
kill people.
That's it.
Nick: On the front lines,
Ukraine knows the price it will
continue to have to pay and how
many men it will continue to
lose.
For the pbs newshour, I am Nick
Shifrin outside of bakhmut,
Ukraine.