Ukrainian Troops Struggle to Hold the Line on the Eastern Front

New York Times

07-07-2025

It was the dead of night, and the Ukrainian infantryman was writhing in a tree line from serious injuries to his legs, shoulder and lung.
His unit had told him by radio that they could not send anyone to evacuate him. The road to their base in the nearby city of Kostiantynivka had become a kill zone. 'There were too many drones flying around,' recalled the infantryman, Oleh Chausov, as he described the experience.
Instead, he was told, the brigade would try to get him out with a small, robot-like tracked vehicle remotely operated from miles away and less visible to Russian drones than an armored carrier.
When the vehicle arrived, Mr. Chausov dragged himself aboard, his wounded legs dangling. But within 20 minutes, the vehicle hit a mine and blew up, he said. Miraculously, Mr. Chausov survived, crawled out and took shelter in a nearby trench.
He was back to square one, still trapped on the battlefield.
25 miles
UKRAINE
Detail
area
Ukraine
Kramatorsk
Druzhkivka
Bakhmut
AREA UNDER
RUSSIAN CONTROL
Kostiantynivka
Avdiivka
Donetsk
Russia
Note: As of July 1
Source: Institute for the Study of War with American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project
By The New York Times
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