If the Ukrainian counteroffensive progressed more slowly than many in the West had hoped, it turned out to be even more expensive in terms of human lives, writes Sky News.

The fighting has been brutal — and bloody — with the Russians using massive artillery and minefields to defend the territory they won in the war.

The Ukrainians shut down intelligence to protect operational tactics, but the accounts of individual combatants after the battle reveal the dangerous nature of front-line combat.

The toll, both physical and emotional, was significant.

Sky News interviewed two foreign volunteers who have been fighting in the Ukrainian army for the past 17 months.

Their claims were corroborated by additional testimony provided by several other foreign volunteers.

Rhys Byrne, nicknamed ‘Rambo’, is an energetic 28-year-old from Dublin. He fought in several units in Ukraine, in particular the 59th brigade of the Ukrainian army, where he operated a large-caliber machine gun.

He says that the struggle for the return of the territory was terrible: “On the “zero line” – horror. It’s terrible. There is simply genocide. It’s a massacre.”

“There are dead people everywhere. Dead Russians. Dead Ukrainians….the biggest problem we face when we go into the trenches is stepping over all the dead bodies that are already there from the last people [care] they’re in — that kind of thing really haunts you,” Byrne says.

The last straw

Byrne spoke to Sky News about the engagement, which he described as the “last straw” – an encounter with a Russian tank and Russian troops – when he was nearly killed.

He says: “We were told so [era] the line of Russian trenches and that our task is to penetrate the trenches, clear them and hold them until the arrival of auxiliary units and then we return.”

The 40-man unit, including Ukrainians, Americans and Britons, was deployed to a training ground near the frontline, or “zero line,” but Byrne said they had no air cover or drones, and two Ukrainian tanks retreated from their positions.

In the distance, another tank was approaching them, the members of the unit assumed that it was a comrade. The military say that it is difficult to distinguish Ukrainian equipment from Russian.

Suddenly he fired a shell into the middle of their position. Those who survived hid in the forest.

Footage from the Irishman’s body camera shows a member of the unit talking on the radio and calling for help as tank shells hit nearby (full story on Sky News)

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