Ukraine’s soldiers have been brutalised during a major counteroffensive to take back the key captured city of Bakhmut. 

New photos show the life-changing injuries suffered by battalions tasked with taking back the city. 

Wounded soldiers from the 10th Mountain Assault Bridage, known as the ‘Edelveys’, were seen barely patched up following treatment in the field, with many of the brigade’s fighters still covered in the dirt from the counteroffensive push. 

The brigade suffered heavy casualties during its assault on the Russia-occupied region, and were seen taking the bodies of their fallen comrades back as they prepared to dig into their nighttime positions overlooking the city.  

One soldier’s head was wrapped up in several layers of bandages, with dried blood caking his nose and mouth as his swollen eyes are barely able to open. 

One soldier’s head was wrapped up in several layers of bandages, with dried blood caking his nose and mouth as his swollen eyes are barely able to open

Ukraine has been pushing to retake the fallen city of Bakhmut since Russia captured it in May

The 10th Mountain Assault Bridage suffered severe casualties during its assault on Bakhmut

One soldier was treated for a severe hand injury he suffered during the assault

Ukraine is determined to retake Bakhmut, which Russia captured in May 2023

Another soldier was treated for a severe hand injury by field medics. 

The city was captured by Russian forces in May, but Ukraine’s military has expended massive amounts of resources and time in an attempt to take it back. 

Ukraine took back the cities of Andriivka and Klishchiivka, which both lie south of Bakhmut, last week, though analysts have said that this does not amount to anything close to a breakthrough of Russia’s defences in the region. 

Despite this, Ukraine’s military claims it has made significant progress in other areas. 

On Monday, it said that the missile strike that destroyed the Sevastopol headquarters of Russia’s navy last week killed 34 officers, including the fleet commander, though it provided no evidence to support its claim.

Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces said on Telegram that its strike on the main building of the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the port city of Sevastopol had wounded 105 people. 

The claims could not independently be verified and are vastly different from what Russia has reported.

The brigade, nicknamed the ‘Edelveys’, suffered severe casualties during its assault

Soldiers from the bridgade looked haunted as night fell on Bakhmut

At least one soldier died during the assault on the captured city

Russia’s military initially said that the attack on key military building killed service-person, but later said the person was not killed but missing. 

Moscow has provided no further updates.

The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has been a frequent target since Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February. 

Crimea has served as the key hub supporting the invasion.

On Monday evening, Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Russian air defenses shot down a missile in the vicinity of the military airfield in Belbek, a village near the port city. He didn’t offer any details about possible damage or casualties.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted naval facilities in Crimea in recent weeks, while the brunt of its summer counteroffensive makes slow gains in the east and south of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said. 

The brigade prepared to hunker down in its nighttime position over the city

Ukraine’s military managed to recapture the cities of Andriivka and Klishchiivka, which both lie south of Bakhmut, last week

Analysts said that Ukraine’s recapturing of Andriivka and Klishchiivka was nothing close to a breakthrough of Russia’s defences 

It is not currently known how many soldiers were lost during the assault on Bakhmut

Ukraine claims that despite slow progress on the Bakhmut front, it has made strides in other parts of the country

It followed Friday’s attack with another barrage on Saturday.

The new death and casualty figures are a steep increase from what Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America on Saturday when he said at least nine people were killed and 16 others wounded in the attack that left the building smouldering. 

He also said Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general commanding forces along the key southeastern front line, was ‘in a very serious condition.’

The new report indicates that the fleet’s chief, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was also killed, though no supporting evidence was offered. 

He was not named in the statement by the Special Operation Forces, but Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine posted his name and a photo on social media.

Ukraine’s military also offered more details about Friday’s attack, claiming that its air force conducted 12 strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were concentrated. 

It said that two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.

The brigade suffered heavy casualties during its assault on the Russia-occupied region

Field medics treated this soldier’s injuries, which he suffered fighting for Ukraine’s military

His hands and head were wrapped up in layers of bandages

Ukraine’s military has expended massive amounts of resources and time in an attempt to take Bakhmut back

The UN said it is currently looking into allegations that Russian forces committed genocide

The casualty figures were announced as Russian drone and missile strikes near Odesa damaged an abandoned hotel, a grain silo and killed two people who were buried in the rubble of a grain warehouse in the Black Sea port city, Ukrainian officials said. 

Russian attacks elsewhere were blamed for killing six other civilians in the past day in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said it down all Russian drones launched overnight, but one of 12 Kalibr missiles and two P-800 Oniks cruise missiles seemingly made it past air defences.

Russia has continuously targeted port and grain storage facilities in Odessa since pulling out of a wartime deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports to countries facing the threat of hunger. 

The attacks have destroyed silos, warehouses, oil terminals and other infrastructure critical for storage and shipping.

The Russian Defence Ministry said long-range missiles and drones were used to strike facilities that it alleged had housed foreign mercenaries and trained saboteurs.

The ministry didn’t name locations or provide other specifics to support its claim. It also said it downed several Ukrainian drones.

The attacks came as independent U.N.-backed human rights experts said they found new evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces and as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the arrival of the first Abrams tanks sent by the U.S. that could figure in their slow-moving summer counteroffensive. 

Independent UN-backed human rights experts said they found new evidence of war crimes committed by Russian forces

The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it found evidence of crimes committed by both sides in the war, but far more by Russians

In eastern Ukraine, Russians attacked residential areas of 10 cities and villages in the Donetsk region, killing two people in the village of Zarichne

The U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it found evidence of crimes committed by both sides in the war, but far more by Russians, including instances of torture, some of it fatal, and rape of women as old as 83. 

It said it was also looking into allegations that Russian forces committed genocide.

Zelensky thanked allies on Telegram for their support in announcing the anticipated arrival of the tanks. He didn’t say how many tanks had arrived, but the U.S. has said it was sending 31 tanks.

In other fighting, Russian forces also dropped bombs and launched six heavy artillery strikes on southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, destroying a school and factory and damaging residential buildings. 

Three of the deaths reported by the Ukrainian president’s office were in the region: three people were killed and two others were injured by bombs that hit the city of Beryslav, while a man was killed in the neighbouring village of Lvove.

In eastern Ukraine, Russians attacked residential areas of 10 cities and villages in the Donetsk region, killing two people in the village of Zarichne, according to the presidential office.

During fighting in southeast Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian army carried out five airstrikes on Orikhiv, a small city, and its surrounding area.

Many of the soldiers in the brigade were seen still covered in dirt from its assault

Soldiers in the brigade suffered a wide range of injuries

Zelensky thanked allies on Telegram for their support in announcing the anticipated arrival of the tanks

The ‘Edelveys’ are still fighting to take back Bakhmut from Ukraine

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences downed three Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region of Russia and three others over the Bryansk region early Monday. 

It also reported that three drones were shot down over the Belgorod region.

Kursk’s governor Roman Starovoit said a downed drone over the centre of the city of Kursk damaged the roof of an administrative building and several private houses and shattered windows in an apartment building, and added that there were no injuries.

A day earlier, a Ukrainian drone damaged the roof of an administrative building in Kursk that some Ukrainian and Russian media reported housed the offices of the Federal Security Service, Russia’s main domestic security agency.

Bryansk’s governor Alexander Bogomaz said the drones caused no casualties, but Ukrainian rockets damaged a farm building and killed cattle.

During the drone attack, Russian authorities delayed or diverted several flights at Moscow’s airports.

The Defense Ministry said five other Ukrainian drones were also shot down over Crimea and the Black Sea.