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NewsTranscript
00:00This is Vegan, 19 years old, taking out a Russian armored personnel carrier on the eastern
00:24front of Ukraine's war against Russia.
00:35Vegan is the young soldier's battle name.
00:38He signed up in an elite assault brigade last year when he was just 18, the youngest age
00:43for Ukrainians to volunteer.
00:44Like many Ukrainian soldiers, he regularly posts photos and videos from the front on
00:49his social media accounts, hiding his identity because he doesn't want to get in trouble
00:53with his officers.
00:55Vegan is fighting on the eastern front in the Donetsk region as the Russians push west
00:59after capturing the key city of Avdivka.
01:02Fifty kilometers further north, Ukrainian forces are fighting off a Russian advance
01:06on another Ukrainian city, Chasiv Yar.
01:15That's where another young soldier, Lesik, has been fighting.
01:18He is a medic in one of Ukraine's territorial defense units.
01:21These two young soldiers have given exclusive accounts to the Front's 24 observers of their
01:26lives in the trenches in Ukraine's war of survival against Russia.
01:31We are hiding their identities as well as operational details of their units for security
01:35reasons.
01:36During the day all we do is watch no man's land.
01:42At night we watch their thermal imaging scope and listen for any sound.
01:51It gets pretty boring.
01:52When there is no fighting, time seems like an eternity.
01:56We do what we can to pass the time.
02:00I like to read.
02:01I have read three Stephen Hawking books so far.
02:04There are a lot of drones in this area.
02:08I've noticed the rise of numbers of drones used by the enemy and by us.
02:17Both sides in the conflict have made extensive use of small consumer-type drones, using them
02:21to deliver grenades or other explosives.
02:25Both enemy and us have fire control on area deep five, ten kilometers behind front line.
02:34In this area everything is visible, so everything could be shot at by mortars, by strike drones,
02:45by drop grenades and other ammo from drones.
02:50A typical day is hiding in the trenches.
02:55You're afraid to raise your head from trench because if you will, it's a big risk of strike
03:02by small drone.
03:04Everything you try to do underground.
03:09Every movement from one point to another is connected with a big risk.
03:14It could be a little bit more safety than during day or during night.
03:21Oh, sorry.
03:22Sit down.
03:23At dawn and dusk drones with thermal scopes don't work very well because there is little
03:31temperature contrast and normal cameras don't give a clear image.
03:35You can't see what's out there, so it's dangerous.
03:38It is at those moments that the Russians tend to attack.
03:49At night, drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras are a real threat, as Vigan found
03:53out one night in April.
03:55I was injured by a Russian drone, a Mavic 3, at night.
03:59It had a thermal scope and dropped two grenades.
04:02It came down and hovered over me to film me.
04:06It was surreal.
04:07Vigan was evacuated by his comrades the next day.
04:22The Ukrainian army has been having a tough time this spring.
04:25In February, they lost a long battle for the key town of Avdivka, north of Donetsk, with
04:30Russian troops raising the flag of victory on February 17th.
04:35Vigan was among the troops defending Avdivka.
04:38The Russians were constantly attacking, trying multiple times to seize the same position.
04:43Their retreat from Avdivka was inevitable.
04:46It's true there has been criticism of the army command that they didn't do enough to
04:51prepare our defenses.
04:56Both soldiers say the key thing they are missing is ammunition.
05:01The Russian army have more ammo, more personnel, more resources, so in general they are pushing us.
05:09Eastern Ukraine has been torn by war not just since Russia's all-out invasion in 2022,
05:15but since pro-Russian separatists rose up against Ukraine in 2014.
05:19The two soldiers, our observers, say the landscape has been devastated.
05:24A lot of civilians who are staying in cities are dying.
05:29It's not safe for us, Ukrainian armed forces, to have civilians nearby.
05:37I am completely against letting civilians stay in such places.
05:44Many civilians don't understand how dangerous war could be.
05:47They stay in their homes, some of them are just waiting for the Russians to arrive.
05:52Lesik is currently fighting somewhere on the eastern front.
05:55Egan is back in his hometown, recovering from the wounds inflicted by the Russian drone.
06:03That's it for this week.
06:04As always, you can find more reports from our observers on our website, observers.frontstory4.com.
06:08I'll see you next time.