Their fiercest fight is taking place for the city of Bakhmut, besieged for months by Russian forces. As a CNN team drove in on the heavily trafficked main road, a Russian artillery shell landed on a building just a few dozen yards away. Much of this war is fought avoiding the incessant Russian artillery threat. Ukrainian soldiers watch a real-time feed from a drone as they target artillery strikes on Russian positions. Further toward the front, in a treeline bordering farmland, is the Ukrainian artillery unit on the other end of the phones with the basement.

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