Russia and Ukraine battling for city of Bakhmut

Overnight Moscow claimed more than 60 Russian prisoners of war were released from Ukrainian captivity. Right now the two nations are locked in fierce fighting in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut. We're learning more about American medic and Marine veteran Pete Reed, who was killed in Bakhmut this week. Reed's widow told CBS the 34-year-old was helping civilians evacuate when his ambulance was struck by Russian shelling. Deborah Pada has more on the battle for Bakhmut and how technology is crucial to the fight. Nothing is safe in Bakhmut. Once home to 70,000 people, nearly a year of war has left a hollowed-out shell.

Artillery is constant here. The sound fills the air. The city is absolutely decimated and deserted, barring a few people. Astoundingly, we've seen still trying to e-card a living here. Those who stayed fear leaving more than dying. Even a visit to the central square is done with one eye on the clock, the other on the sky. To the east, a blood-soaked battlefield where Russian gains are counted in inches.

In the west, Bakhmut still holds Ukrainians say, but only just. Karatea commander Siewa Kozhymyko takes us to an underground command center where an army of tech geeks turned warriors scan multiple video feeds of the front line beamed back in real time. A fleet of inexpensive drones provides a bird's-eye view of the battlefield in astonishing detail. Like this dead Russian soldier sprawled on the roadside and shattered backyards where the Kremlin's troops were recently filmed crawling for cover to escape a Ukrainian grenade. Sophisticated 21st century electronic surveillance meets the savagery of World War I trench warfare. We have units that take the drones up into the sky and stream video here. Third operative brigade commander Oleg Sandepivnenko explained it's used to support artillery.

We see the enemy advance and destroy them. Officers here say Russia throws waves of soldiers like meat into the fight. They just keep on advancing over the bodies of their fallen soldiers. Third operative battalion commander Anton Zadorozhny said one group is destroyed, another is sent in. The men work, sleep and eat here in shifts around the clock. No job too menial because even the Russian forces have been killed in staggering numbers trying to take this small city. As Ukrainian soldiers no more will come and more will die on both sides.

But for now from this bunker to the blood-soaked battlefields just a few blocks away, Bakhmut holds. For CBS Saturday morning, Deborah Patta, Bakhmut.

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