LYSYCHANSK, Ukraine — In this city in the contested Donbas region, against the backdrop of ruined buildings and crater-pocked streets, a Ukrainian battalion commander — nom de guerre Spartak, or Spartacus — explained that the situation is “very difficult at the moment.”

Frustrated in the north and stalled in the south, the Russian war machine prepares for a concerted push deeper into eastern Ukraine to consolidate territory in the Donbas — and Ukrainians are digging in to stave off encirclement.

Although the Ukrainian line has not broken, Spartak explained to The New York Sun that units along the line of contact are ad-hoc, mixed units of the Ukrainian Army, the National Guard, and the Territorial Defense brigades.

Lysychansk lies within the gray zone, an area nominally held by Ukrainian forces but pulverized by Russian fire. Like some post-apocalyptic film, the town is nearly devoid of life.

The Russians shell Lysychansk and its sister city, Sievierodonetsk, with multiple types of weaponry, Spartak explained, adding that Russians assaulted Ukrainian positions in the area from every direction except Ukrainian-held territory to the southwest.

Vladimir Putin’s war machine outnumbers the beleaguered Ukrainians in terms of both troop numbers and armored vehicles, though the Ukrainians enjoy the advantage of defending kith and kin.

Russian forces have enjoyed some gains, particularly around the cities of Izium and Poposna, and are within three miles of Soledar, one of the main conduits to Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk.

Moscow can hardly afford a protracted, grinding war of attrition against Ukraine, and cutting the road through Soledar would seriously hamper vehicles and ammunition flowing east — and casualties and civilians fleeing west.

During a recent visit to Soledar, civilian vehicles galumphed out of the city, and Ukrainian tanks and SUVs packed with soldiers charged in toward the front.

One ambulance crunched along down the road on its rims, its tires completely shredded, the windshield and passenger windows riddled with bullet holes. Artillery exploded near enough to rattle car windows. 

Yet buoyed by military aid from Europe and the United States — and increasingly by the state-of-the-art artillery systems President Zelensky has long pleaded for — Ukrainian forces keep the Russians on their heels.

Keenly aware of the deep reserves of Western weaponry Ukraine draws upon, Russian forces intend to encircle Ukrainian forces into an eastern pocket, effectively cutting them off from materiel that heretofore flowed uninterruptedly into Donbas.

The Russian position is tenuous, despite its advantages on paper. Russia seems intent on mauling Ukrainian forces in the east into submission before the front line crystalizes and ahead of Russian personnel and equipment exhaustion.

Reports from social media indicate that Russian soldiers and equipment tied up by the siege of Mariupol at the Black Sea are making their way north to reinforce the Russian push west into the Donbas.

Yet frustrated by Ukrainian tenacity and forced to contend with a burgeoning feeling of desperation, Russian forces increasingly turn to powerful, indiscriminate fires. This eastern phase of the war could be especially deadly for Ukrainian troops.

“We are carrying out the defense on the outskirts of the Siverskyi Donets River,” Spartak said. “We control two towns at the moment: Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. The task is not to let the enemy through, not to let a blockade of our armed formations.”

The “hottest” part of the day is between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., the commander explained. During these hours his men hunker down and ride out the Russian shelling from improvised fortifications in and around the city.

They have mounted a ferocious defense and exacted heavy losses against the Russian invaders, but the commander explained that the future success in their area hangs on a knife’s edge.

They are carrying out an orderly retreat and using the terrain to maximize Russian casualties, Spartak explained, adding that his troops blew up a bridge across the Siverskyi Donets River before “retreating to more advantageous positions.”

Russian forces have fared poorly against Spartak’s men. Spartak estimates Russian losses around Sievierodonetsk at a company per day, or about 65-70 soldiers. Of those, “30 are dead, and about 40 to 45 are wounded,” he added with a grin.

Spartak’s men are better equipped than the average soldier. Many of their weapons sport suppressors and aftermarket optics. Spartak sourced a drum magazine for his AKM rifle, expanding magazine capacity to 76 rounds from the standard 30.

These accessories give his men an advantage over the Russian troops they fight. During a firefight, “the enemy will have to reload two or three times,” Spartak said with a smirk. “I’ll be shooting at him nonstop.”

Troops aside, the Russians also lose several tanks and armored personnel carriers per day. The operational advantages lie with the Ukrainians. Their losses are fewer “because we are carrying out defensive combat.”

In some early instances, the Russians recklessly expended human capital with the kinds of human wave attacks the Red Army employed during World War II.

“I don’t know where they get so many people,” Spartak said with a shrug, indifferent. The Russians “don’t take into consideration human losses or loss of equipment.”

The commander explained that “from the start, the enemy has been just throwing live meat” into this fight. But now they’ve “understood this doesn’t work” and are adapting.

The Russians “are simply leveling infrastructure with artillery, pulling off layers of soil, all of which makes it impossible for us to take up spots for defense.”

“By these means,” Spartak explained, “the enemy is simply wiping towns off the face of the earth” in wanton disregard for civilian life.

Despite the success Ukrainians have enjoyed against Moscow’s forces, the situation is volatile and repeating their previous successes is becoming more difficult.

Just yesterday, Russian forces destroyed another bridge and one of the main conduits spanning the Siverskyi Donets in an effort to amputate Sievierodonetsk from Lysychansk and strangle the city into submission.

Zhenia, a 23-year-old officer from Pryluky, 90 miles east of Kyiv, explained he is shuffling his soldiers into better defensible positions. The Russian counteroffensive around Sievierodonetsk is intensifying “every day.”

Although some of his soldiers do feel a sense of fear and apprehension about what the future holds, Zhenia explained that for him, the last three months have been “the best time of my life.”

While Russia can draw upon deep reserves of men and equipment, Ukrainian losses in this eastern salient bite deeply into the embattled defender’s precious reserves of equipment.

Russia destroys the passenger vans and sport-utility vehicles Ukrainian troops ride into battle faster than they can be replaced. Artillery ammunition is in short supply, and fuel has been at times difficult to source.

The soldiers pin their hopes on aid from the West and in particular America’s Lend-Lease Act, which empowers the President to export war materiel for the defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

State-of-the-art American artillery pieces have proven extremely effective, inflicting heavy losses on the Russians. Ukrainian troops are loath to give away the howitzer’s positions but acknowledge they have been active in the east.

In the meantime, Spartak and his men are putting all the weight they can muster into this fight, cognizant that the future of their nation depends on their success on the battlefield.

“We’re on our land,” Spartak explained, adding that for now, they are “holding our defense, staying to the end, biting into the earth, and digging in.”