Major Ulana Suzanska meets us near the checkpoint on the
road leading to the front lines.
We traveled with her to report on an artillery unit
in her brigade.
Turned out she was new at this How long have
you been a press officer?
One week.
But Suzanska's mission, her story that unfolded while on the
road together,
seems suddenly as emblematic of this war as the story
we set out to report.
Until just a few days ago,
Suzanska served far from the front lines,
as the conductor for the Air Force band based in
Venezia in central Ukraine,
per unit played at military award ceremonies and parades.
But then, in February, came the phone call every Ukrainian
family dreads.
Her only brother, Captain Alexander Sozanski,
had died in battle. How old was your brother?
3131. When was he killed?
The
70 of February. So really just a couple months ago,
yeah.
What happened to him?
It was mortar shelling, she says.
It happened on the bloody,
contested battlefield of Bach Moot.
My brother was the commander of a unit that carried
out combat missions at Zero Line,
Suzanska says. The Zero Line,
what the Ukrainian military calls the near face to face
trench warfare of this battle,
he was a murmur. He's called Ragnar,
the person from Scandinavia. Liking,
yeah, liking.
Ragnar had shared with his family this video of his
unit helping lead the charge in last fall's counter offensive
that forced the Russians to retreat from a vast swath
of territory, including the one we're in now.
For his valor, the Army awarded Suzanski the Cross of
Bravery.
How are you doing? I don't know.
Actually,
I don't know. There's no time to be sad.
We have to fight. We have no other way out.
We have nowhere to run,
she says.
And fight she would, joining her fallen brothers brigade near
the front lines,
not with the power of a gun,
but the power of information,
of world attention.
The most important aspect of the war is the information
war,
Suzanska says. Those who own the information
own the world. The world must see and know.
Our nation is invincible, she says.
Fathers, sons, wives and daughters are fighting here and we
will stand until the last.
Such stories are what Suzanska wants to help the world
to see Ordinary Ukrainians making sacrifices,
sometimes the ultimate one.
Suzanska putting her passion on hold For now.
Music is my profession, it's my life,
But
we'll have to wait until after our win,
she says.
Until then, she honors her brother.
My brother's motto was a warrior lives as long as
people remember him,
Suzanska says. We must remember all our fallen heroes and
fight on.
Jason Bellini, Scripps News, Lyman,
Ukraine
a Ukrainian fighter and her unit's medic helps evacuate yet
another fallen comrade.
A GoPro camera on the helmet of Yara Chornohuse captured
this time lapsed video and the exhaustion and grit of
her unit urgently pushing through the forest trying to save
their fallen friend. When every minute can mean life or
death,
frontline combat medics like Yara
are a lifeline. You are constantly under tank,
artillery and mortar. Shelleen infantry of occupants are just
100 meters away from you
and you can be wounded with bullets in any moment.
Before we met, we didn't know much about her,
but there was something about Yara from her Instagram photos
alone
that promised a rare window into the bloody reality of
this war.
The only way to meet her Travel to her location
in the Donbass region,
near the most fierce fighting of the war in Bachmund.
To visit Yarra. We've come to Lyman.
It's a town that's just a few miles away from
the front line.
But here's the artillery fire already.
This is your ambulance. Have you
prefer
armored car? You know,
here we have tank shelling and artillery shelling almost every
day.
This is what we face every day.
We have to use like Mitsubishi wagon
for evacuation. Yeah, let's go.
Let's move that from this destroyed village home now mainly
to Ukrainian fighters.
Yara speeds back and forth to the front line in
her makeshift ambulance.
Why do you have an American flag?
It's just to irritate occupants and Russians.
The mission of Yara's unit fight and gather military intelligence,
bringing them so close to enemy fighters that they can
see them.
You just came back from the front line.
That's right. What's it like out there right now?
The last few weeks, Russians are trying to push the
front line.
They try to use moments when
we haven't got a new portion of tanks and artillery
and cannons,
so they are digging very close to our position,
like 70 or 100 meters away from us.
Unending Russian fire is killing and injuring Ukrainian forces in
devastating numbers.
I don't feel any emotions when I see wounds.
Or no, not not anymore.
Not after a year and a half on the front
line.
I have some emotions about maybe dead bodies,
but only after we evacuated them.
Do you have to bring dead bodies in your car?
Yes.
This car is basically for wounded and
the ones who were who were killed.
You
have a snake tattoo with the snake.
Snake The symbol of wisdom
at the same time, symbol of medicine.
Yara's ambulance carries the wounded and dead daily.
What's been the hardest day for you?
We were unable to evacuate the dead body of one
of our mates.
We didn't have enough artillery and that's why we had
to like,
step back to the
line behind and his body is still there.
Doctors treat patients, Combat medics treat friends who are more
like family.
I have in memory lots of my mates,
friends who are killed and this give me motivation to
fight the ghosts of the dead,
urging her on in the name of freedom and life.
The commander of a Ukrainian mortar platoon call sign,
which barks orders to her drone operator call sign user
on the southern edge of Bachmout.
She needs user to give her eyes on the target
so she can tell Pete Sumke,
one of her mortar operators.
It's time.
Eyes focused on the monitor,
watching, waiting for impact so she can recalibrate for the
next volley from her battlefield bunker.
In this rare view of how Ukrainians on the ground
and below it fight the counter offensive,
our occupation is to defend our
infantry, to make the fire in front of our frontline.
I don't remember this. We met up with Which a
Ukrainian lawyer turned warrior in chassis Vihar,
a battle scarred village 6 miles from Bachmood jolted
24/7 by the sound of outgoing Ukrainian artillery.
We
were just hearing a howitzer right there.
That's a big habit, Sir.
Now in Ukraine's counter offensive infantry units count on which
to provide them.
Since there's no air support,
they're only cover. And of course the Russians are targeting
you.
Of course we are the main target for Russians moving.
It's my job. I like it.
What do you like about it now?
For me, it's a time
of revenge. Time of revenge?
Exactly. Have you been getting revenge?
Yes. Will you go back to your former life when
the war is over?
I don't think I will go back to my previous
life.
I think I will serve.
You want to stay in the military?
Yeah, I will stay in the military.
I like it. Oh, you are a girl.
You are.
You have to be more soft.
Gender equality in armed forces is better than in civilian
life.
There's still one part of civilian life that she values
more than any other.
I have another. I have a seven years old son.
I showed my son that the most important thing is
freedom
and respect of human rights.
I have to ask your call sign,
which I promise I will tell about the story of
this call Sign,
but after war, because it's a little bit dangerous to
talk about it now,
predictions from where you are on the ground,
when is this war going to be over?
I don't think that war will be over very soon
because this is a very big process,
a long war of attrition,
innovation and transformation from mother to lawyer,
lawyer to mortar unit commander
and citizen to soldier Jason Bellini,
Scripps news in the Donbas region of Ukraine.