A Ukrainian Mortar Team Fights On As Russian Forces Close In On Bakhmut

A Ukrainian soldier fires toward Russian positions in Bakhmut on February 16. Moscow's forces claim to be gaining ground as nearly round-the-clock shelling rains down on the shattered city, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called "our fortress."

Located astride two major crossroads, Bakhmut, which had a prewar population of 70,000, has been almost completely destroyed during intense fighting.

Despite the fighting and cold winter weather, an estimated 6,000 civilians remain in the city. Ukrainian authorities are urging them to evacuate while they still can.

Among the Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut are members of the country's State Border Guard Service. This guard waits at the entrance of a shelter for an order to move to a mortar position.

Mortar shells ready to be launched. With both sides engaged in fierce and bloody artillery duels and infantry attacks for months, the situation in the region has been described as the Bakhmut "meat grinder."

Mortarmen warm themselves by a fire in a shelter as they wait for the next opportunity to engage the enemy.

A cross hangs on a uniform next to a patch with the owner's blood type.

A mortarman surveys the frozen and battle-scarred landscape near his shelter as snow falls.
 

A single gas burner comprises the cooking area in the shelter where the soldiers live.

After spotters identify Russian positions, the Ukrainian mortarmen are ordered out of their shelter to set up and fire at the enemy.

Mortarmen cup their ears as they launch a mortar toward Russian positions.

As Moscow's forces close in on the shattered city, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group predicted that it could take weeks, if not months, for Bakhmut to fall.