Ukraine war: Front-line troops discuss counter-offensive

As the anaesthetic began to wear off, the Ukrainian soldier - a scrawny, mud-flecked 19-year-old - let out a low wail in the back of the ambulance, then fumbled with his oxygen mask and swore as he mumbled: "Give me my rifle."

"They're often like this. So much trauma," said Dr Inna Dymitr, stroking the soldier's pale face as he slipped back into unconsciousness and the ambulance swerved, at furious speed, heading away from the frontlines south-east of Zaporizhzhia.

The young soldier's name was Oleh. In a trench that morning, shrapnel from an exploding Russian mortar had dug a large hole in his lower back, quite possibly severing his spinal cord.

"He's stable, but in a serious condition. We get so many like him," said Dr Dymitr, listing half a dozen other cases from recent days. She works for a private, Western-funded aid group, MOAS.

As the casualties from Ukraine's counter-offensive mount, it is easy to see why - on a rare visit to this closely guarded section of the southern front - some soldiers and observers are starting to wonder if a breakthrough is possible, or whether Russia's defensive lines, built up and heavily-reinforced over the winter months, are simply too much of a barrier.

"Without more [Western] help, I think we might lose this game," said Kyrylo Potras, a Ukrainian marine whose lower left leg was torn off by a Russian mine in 2020, but who has now returned to the frontlines. Potras said the presence of vast Russian minefields was proving a huge obstacle.