Neskuchne in Donetsk region saw the heaviest fighting according to the battalion which liberated it.
The BBC is among the first media organisations to gain access to some of the first villages liberated in Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Out of this cluster of four settlements in the eastern Donetsk region, Neskuchne has seen the heaviest fighting according to the battalion which liberated it.
Its name means “not boring” in Russian.
An obvious irony for a village that was occupied by Russia in spring last year – a few weeks after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It was at the most northern point of a protruding Russian front line.
As our army escort, Anatoliy, speeds along scarred roads in his camouflaged truck towards Neskuchne, it’s clear this is a different kind of liberation to what we saw last year.
Firstly there are no civilians here. The only remnants of civilisation come in the form of a blown out pharmacy and food store.
There isn’t a complex network of trenches either. A makeshift wooden bridge over a river is all it takes to take us into territory Russia has held for so long.
Buildings are also riddled with bullet holes from smaller calibre weapons. There’s been a lot of close quarter fighting here.
Anatoliy doesn’t like to hang around for long.
Mortars are periodically fired from Ukrainian troops hidden in thick tree lines or abandoned gardens. He explains the Russians are just on the brow of hill in three directions.
The sudden rising of three plumes of smoke is a cue to keep moving. The Russians are responding with Grad missiles.
The situation here is far more fluid than the triumphant claims of liberation which had come from from Kyiv this week.
Russian forces have been pushing back as recently as last night, which Ukrainian officials have now acknowledged.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive is in its early stages with modest gains.
If Neskuchne is anything to go by, any liberation will be far from immediate, and won’t necessarily bring freedom straight away.
Earlier this week, a video emerged purportedly showing two Ukrainian soldiers raising the country’s blue-and-yellow national flag on destroyed buildings in Neskuchne.
The loud booming sound of nearby shelling can also be heard.
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