CNN reports from one of the Ukrainian military's closely guarded secrets
One of the places to watch here right now is Bakhmut. Why? Because it's been such an intense fight. But there are lessons here for the Ukrainian commanders. What they are trying to do right now is encircle Bakhmut. And what are the lessons that they're learning? That that fight in the meat grinder of the city itself is a tough fight. Even the Russians still having some advantage there. Where the fight is easier, if you will, and it ain't easy really.
Where it is less bloody than inside the city. It is outside in the countryside where it's easier to advance. There are lessons going on in Bakhmut as the Ukrainian commanders here consider the coming counter offensive. On Bakhmut's destroyed streets, two Ukrainian soldiers bolster flagging spirits with dark humour. Oh, that boom boom boom. Is that on us? One says. Oh no, the other jokes.
We're enchanted. They're not for us. Russia's push for the remaining Ukrainian controlled high rises around them has not relented despite recent successes taking ground north and south of the meat grinder town. In a field hospital nearby, troops concussed by heavy Russian shelling inside Bakhmut. How was the fight in Bakhmut compared to a person on other places? Bakhmut is so much. Callsign White, a 47 year old former warehouse manager, tells us Bakhmut is his hardest battle yet. It's hell, he says.
How is the morale at the frontline? He pauses, sighs and whispers. It's hard. Tanks too are getting chewed up in the Bakhmut meat grinder. This Soviet era T-72 blasted by shelling there. Repairs made in hedgerows because workshops are getting targeted. The shrapnel holes don't matter, this tank commander tells us. What's important is the engine and the reactive armour.
Locations of repair hideaways like this one are a closely guarded secret. Once the counter offensive begins they will be even more vital to keep the military and its machines moving. In a combat bunker buried outside Bakhmut, troops have no idea when or where the big offensive will come. The monitoring the battlefield from here, we can't show you the screens that they're looking down from drones. As soon as a Russian soldier puts his head up and moves, you see it. Morale here, high because they've recently made gains across fields surrounding the town. Early success in the coming counter offensive will be critical.
The lessons of Bakhmut, momentum and motivation is all. Well the air raid sirens are going off around here right now and I've lost track of how many times they've gone off. That's because this area is close to the frontline, that's because it's incredibly active. And what are the commanders looking for? They're looking for Russia to pull out forces from front lines to bring them and reinforce Bakhmut. And if they do that, if the Russians weaken defenses in some parts of the frontline, this is where you may see the Ukrainian military leadership say okay that's the weak spot now, that's where we can attack, that's an opportunity for the counter offensive. Right now no one on the ground knows that. All right Nick, thank you very much for me, Eastern Ukraine tonight.
I want to go now to the retired US Army Lieutenant General Mark Hurtling, of course the former commanding general of Europe and the 7th Army. So General let me just ask you, you heard what Nick's saying that the implication there is that the soldiers they don't know, they don't know when, they don't know where, right, the soldiers on the ground. But that perhaps it may be that Ukraine is literally waiting to see where Russia pulls and moves troops away and then creates the counter offensive there. Do you think that's what's happening? I know that obviously you've written an op-ed talking about why this seems to have been taking so long, this much anticipated counter offensive. There was so much Aaron and Nick's report just now from a military perspective that would be glossed over by anyone else. But I got to tell you what he's talking about is yes, they are looking for activity within the Russian line so the Ukrainians can use it to their advantage. But I got to tell you, I believe that the Ukrainians have already plotted their contingency operations for their offense.
They know where they're going to go. They just want to get some last minute information, some intelligence so they can shape the penetrations all along the front lines. Some of it may be in that Donbass area near Bakhmut, but I would suggest that we're talking about a several hundred mile kilometer, several hundred kilometer frontage. They're going to go in a lot of different places, but great report by Nick. Well, and interesting you say a lot of different places. I mean, look, Ukraine is saying just over the past few days, general obviously, that they've liberated substantial areas around Bakhmut. This is a place that for nine months every day was at best three or four feet of a gain, and it was supposed to complete stalemate.
So now we've got this new video, Russian soldiers nearby Bakhmut crawling out in their hands and knees. You do see some withdrawal. Do you think that Ukraine is making true gains right now? Yeah, they certainly are. What we're talking about is, you know, I focused on that film that you had with the soldiers crawling, but the one that was more important to me was the precision strike on the electronic warfare. On that silo. Yeah, Russia. Russia has attempted to pull EW assets closer to the front to try and interfere with Ukrainian missiles and precision guided equipment.
The main target are those kind of jammers that can influence the rest of the battlefield. And the other thing I'd say, Aaron, while we're watching the small tactical fights of soldiers crawling around, the most important thing for General Zeluzkiy, the commander of Ukrainian force, is not only getting his combat forces forward, but to quickly follow them up with logistics forces. The piece of repairing the tank and the wood line, that's exactly the kind of challenges you're going to have in combat to make sure those things keep running. All right. And now the barrage of missiles overnight. Ukraine successfully intercepted all 18 of them, right? But, you know, we've been seeing this, when there's a missile attack from Russia, it's just, it's an onslaught. They're throwing a lot at it, hoping that some break through.
And we understand that Russia is doing this even more, like they're using even more missiles in each attack, you know, again, to try to just overwhelm the Ukrainian air defenses. What do you make of this in light of what we know to be, you know, severe issues on the Russian supply, right? Military supply. Yeah. There was an individual today that did a calculation of the cost of Russia's attack last night and calculating the cost of the different types of missiles, the drones, the ballistic rockets, estimated it was a cost of about 155 million US dollars in ammunition that was fired last night. Now, the Ukrainians are firing a lot of expensive equipment back at them. But, you know, truthfully, we've been saying this for a long time. I don't think Russia can sustain this kind of attack any further.
But right now they're testing out where the air defenses are, particularly the US Patriot defenses. They want to see where those defenders are, and they're going after them. All right. General Hurtling, thank you so much. Pleasure. Thanks.
Ukraine, Bakhmut, Eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian forces, soldier, military, Ukrainian military, Russia, tanks, bunker, Nic Robertson