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.
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.
Polish-made Krab howitzers are powerful and surprisingly comfortable to operate, according to Ukrainian crews fighting in the Dontesk region. But such large weapons are desirable drone targets, so the crews are careful to remain vigilant and stay under cover.
Ukrainian troops are targeting Russian-launched drones, fighter planes, and helicopters, using Soviet-era antiaircraft systems with limited radar capabilities.
Ukraine's 2S7 Pion self-propelled artillery pieces are engaging with Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Because of their long range -- 37.5 kilometers -- they are used to attack key enemy targets. The 2S7 Pion packs the biggest punch in the Ukrainian artillery arsenal with 203-millimeter shells.
Ukraine has reported dozens of missile strikes across its territory, including the capital, Kyiv, in a significant escalation of Russian attacks. This follows a massive explosion over the weekend that knocked down part of the bridge linking Russia to Crimea.
A Ukrainian mortar battery provides cover for their infantry on the front line in eastern Ukraine. They fire dozens of shells per day, including some captured from Russian forces. They aim at targets up to 7 kilometers away, the maximum range, as longer-range Russian artillery hits back at them.
The Ukrainian Army's 93rd Mechanized Brigade is using a captured self-propelled howitzer, a 2S5 Giatsint-S, to hit back against Moscow's forces with their own shells. Several were captured after the retreat by Russian troops from the Kharkiv region during a sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive.
RFE/RL correspondent Roman Pahulych met with artillerymen from Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade in the country's eastern Kharkiv region as they continued to try and push back Russian forces.
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its sixth month, Ukrainian troops fighting in the Donetsk region say they are not experiencing the constant shelling they have seen up to now.
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