<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Days are spent under a hail of shells, and night brings no respite for Ukrainian soldiers as enemy forces draw ever closer in Bakhmut, one of the last towns where Russian troops are still advancing.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The metallic boom of shelling echoes across the hills surrounding the small town, home to 70,000 people before the war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia has been falling back in its offensive -- but in Bakhmut, unlike across most of the front line, Ukrainians are on the defensive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They face the "most difficult" challenges, President Volodymyr Zelensky said this weekend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian troops still control the northern and western parts of the city, AFP journalists saw on Saturday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Metal crosses and blocks of concrete mark the Ukrainian front line, dubbed "point zero". No one is allowed past.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around it, in the "grey zone", Russia is on the offensive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pro-Russian separatist forces have pressed ahead east and south of Bakhmut, relying on their base in the city of Donetsk about 100 kilometres (62 miles) away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Thursday, they said they recaptured two neighbouring villages, Opytine and Ivangrad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- Close combat -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The retaking of the two villages raised fears that Russian forces, including Wagner paramilitary units, may have infiltrated the eastern part of the city, according to a British intelligence note.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the ground, Ukrainian soldiers told AFP there was now close combat with members of pro-Russian forces.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Enemy troops "start when night falls. They send their reconnaissance units around 6 pm," said one soldier who uses the nom de guerre "Poliak".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a bitter tone of voice, the 50-year-old from the 93rd brigade said inexperienced, "single use" soldiers are sent into the line of fire to "divert" attention from more experienced units carrying out sabotage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Between then and 5 am, we get about seven or eight (diversion) attacks like that," he explained.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Poliak recently suffered a minor shrapnel injury and returned exhausted from the most intense of the fighting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After four sleepless nights, the former truck driver said he experiences "hallucinations" from the stress and fatigue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One evening, his unit opened fire, thinking they could see a Russian commando through night-vision goggles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Early in the morning, they realised they had been shooting at a pile of logs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The unit has since been given some rest. Of its 13 men, five were injured, and two never came back.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- Lost purpose -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every building in the Ukrainian-controlled centre of Bakhmut bears the marks of two months of intense combat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Windows of the buildings still standing have been smashed, and rooves have been ripped off.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Civilians live in their basements, taking great risks as they search for food, water, fuel, fresh air, or power from communal generators.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There is no running water in Bakhmut, and electricity was completely cut off ten days ago.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Miraculously, the phone network is holding up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People stock up on food at the market, where a few items are laid out on wooden planks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An 80-year-old woman stood in a state of shock in the streets, holding a pipe for her wooden stove.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We cannot even bury people anymore," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"My sister has been under the rubble (after a strike) overnight on October 12-13. No one can come get her body. I just wander about, without any purpose. I do not know where to go," the former beekeeper said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"My bees are somewhere in the forest, left to fend for themselves. And we are left fending for ourselves too," she said, bursting into tears. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">bnbd24/kh</div>