Roman Pahulych covers defense and security for Donbas.Realities of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. He has worked for RFE/RL since 2018 after stints as a reporter for Ukrainian news Channel 24 -- both in Ukraine and abroad.
The commander of a Ukrainian unit fighting near the town of Dobropillya in eastern Ukraine has told RFE/RL that it will not be easy to regain territory seized by Russian forces in a sudden advance earlier this month.
Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade says its tank and drone units continue to fight Russian forces who broke through near the town of Dobropillya in the eastern Donetsk region. Captured Russian troops told RFE/RL they experienced confusion and heavy casualties.
Crews from two Ukrainian Navy minehunting vessels are training with the Royal Navy in Britain in preparation of a future mission to clear explosives from the Black Sea.
Crews from two Ukrainian minehunting naval vessels are training in Britain to prepare for a future mission to clear explosives from the Black Sea.
Ukraine is following Russia in deploying drones using fiber-optic cables on the battlefield. Unlike radio-controlled drones, the new drones cannot be jammed and can fly through forests and between buildings over a distance of up to 10 kilometers.
As Ukrainian forces battle Russian air attacks, they're seeing a growing number of fiber optic drones -- weapons controlled by thin cables that unwind as they fly toward their target. These drones are piloted by signals sent through the cable and are not susceptible to electronic jamming.
Speaking with RFE/RL from a military shelter in eastern Ukraine, a female drone pilot with the call sign "Siri" discusses her experience of losing her Ukrainian comrades on the front line.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service was given exclusive access to film one of Ukraine's long-range drone units as it prepared to strike a target in Russia. The soldiers say Ukraine's domestically built drones can strike up to 2,000 kilometers inside Russia.
A Russian shell came close to directly hitting an RFE/RL crew on the front line in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Correspondent Roman Pahulych and cameraman Pavlo Kholodov were filming with a Ukrainian drone team on October 10 when the shell struck.
Ukraine marks its Independence Day on August 24 amid Russia's continuing full-scale invasion of the country. RFE/RL asked Ukrainian soldiers fighting near the front lines what the day means to them personally.
Residents of the Russian border town of Sudzha appeared shocked and disorientated at its capture by Ukrainian forces, in interviews with an RFE/RL reporter during a media tour on August 20.
In a recently liberated Ukrainian village, skeletons lie amid the ruined buildings. RFE/RL reporter Roman Pahulych visited Vremivka and Neskuchne days after they were recaptured by Ukrainian forces.
A Ukrainian tank unit played a key role in a recent counteroffensive operation that managed to recapture several villages in the Donetsk region. The tank crew claims to have advanced more than 6 kilometers along the Mokri Yaly River in the hotly contested region.
Ukrainian crews being trained on British Challenger 2 tanks in England say the vehicle's power, mass, and operating controls will be a welcome addition on the battlefield in the Donbas region. They make for a powerful improvement over the Soviet-era T-80 tanks Ukrainian soldiers have been using.
RFE/RL's Roman Pahulych accompanied a Ukrainian drone crew as they sent up the army's Leleka-100 unmanned aerial vehicle into occupied territory. Vlad, Yevhen, and their crew say they have made 2,000 sorties since the war began, by day and night.
In the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian gunners are hitting Russian troops with Soviet-era Akatsiya artillery, coordinating their accuracy with multiple spotter drones, they say. Russians are countering with jamming and interference, say the Ukrainians at the controls.
Ukrainian tank crews in the eastern Donetsk region are using retrofitted T-64s, designed in the 1960s, to shell Russian troops. They fire from hidden positions using coordinates provided by drones. When massed Russian infantry attacks, Ukrainian tanks move directly onto the battlefield.
Ukrainian gunners have learned to be versatile in their adoption of artillery pieces sent from various nations offering support. Targeting Russian invaders effectively in at least one case means mastering older Estonian-donated howitzers. Finnish shells are favored by one Zaporizhzhya team.
Ukrainian artillery crews have been using up their Soviet-era ammunition supplies and now need to find more sources for reloading their vintage howitzers. Troops are hoping to get new supplies of Soviet-era-compatible ammunition from Poland, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania.
Heavy rains in Ukraine's Donetsk region have washed out key roads, putting soldiers at risk as vehicles get stuck and the supply of ammunition and food becomes a challenge. Often, only heavy trucks and tracked vehicles can get through.
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