This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
and very strong language
Six miles from the front line in southern Ukraine,
I've been invited to watch this artillery unit
as they try and destroy a Russian tank.
Even closer to the front line,
this drone operator's watching from the air,
helping the gunners hit their target.
ARTILLERY FIRE
When Russia first invaded Ukraine, many - including the Russians -
thought that this war would be over in days.
But we're now five months in,
and the Ukrainians are still fighting back.
Some say they're actually winning.
There's no doubt that foreign weapons,
like these American howitzers,
are making a big difference...
..but they alone don't explain how this young country is holding off
one of the biggest armies in the world.
Some bastards are dead today.
ENGINE REVS
AIR RAID SIREN BLARES
SIREN CONTINUES
SIREN ECHOES
EXPLOSION
Mykolaiv sits right on the edge of Ukraine's southern front.
A few miles down this road is the front line
and a battle that could decide the fate of the war.
Russia's invasion reached as far as Mykolaiv's
neighbouring city, Kherson,
but Mykolaiv stopped the advance.
Now, every day, Russian forces pound Mykolaiv
with artillery and rocket fire...
..hitting both military and civilian targets...
EXPLOSIONS
..and sowing fear in the residents that remain.
WEEPING
If Russian forces succeed in capturing Mykolaiv,
the fear is they could then sweep west,
cut Ukraine off from the sea
and take control of the ports that support the national economy.
It'd be the beginning of the end for Ukraine.
EXPLOSION
But despite months of this punishment,
Mykolaiv - like the country - is still fighting back.
And the question remains, how is this possible?
I've been offered a trip to the front line, to see for myself
how the Ukrainians are holding off this Russian advance.
But before I leave, I meet Mykolaiv's regional governor,
Vitaliy Kim.
He says there's something I should see before I go.
He told me to turn my phone off so it couldn't be tracked
and invited me to join him on a trip across town.
You can stop filming.
Down an anonymous, unmarked street,
Kim leads me into an old derelict factory.
Inside is an improvised war room,
with about a dozen intelligence officers watching the war play out
on their screens in real time.
Kim introduced me to the centre's manager, Yaroslav.
And there's more going on here than just intelligence work.
So, what is this thing?
It's a strike drone...
..which can... which can burn things,
which can kill things.
We have three bombs.
This drone is really loud and really big,
so we can work only in night.
We are trying to use it three or four times per week.
Really? Yeah.
But you need to sleep,
so it's comparison -
to kill somebody or to sleep a little.
As well as working in intelligence,
the people here are using 3D printers
to make plastic noses and fins
and fitting them to old Soviet grenades and mortars.
Then they adapt drones and use them to drop these improvised bombs
on Russian tanks and soldiers.
But the most striking thing about this place
is not what these people are doing.
It's who they are.
Olexiy isn't a soldier.
He's actually an architect with his own business in Kyiv.
And this whole centre is staffed and run entirely by people like him -
non-military volunteers with little or no training.
Russians started to kill my nation.
I have a possibility to protect them,
and the only way to protect them is to kill an enemy,
is to kill Russian.
That's why I'm doing this.
I have good education, some mechanics, cartography,
computer technology, and I'm a patriot.
The interests of my country and of my nation
are higher than my personal interests.
That's why I'm not an architect now.
I'm a soldier now.
In conflicts I've covered in the past,
there's normally a clear distinction between the civilian population
and the armed forces.
But here, the lines are being blurred...
..and not just in this intelligence centre.
Roman Kostenko used to be a commander
in Ukraine's special forces.
But in 2019, he was elected as an MP in the Ukrainian parliament.
HE SPEAKS UKRAINIAN
When Russia invaded his home city of Kherson,
he immediately hung up his suit in Kyiv and set up this base
to recruit volunteers to go to the front line and fight.
Russian soldiers are right now occupying his family home,
just 50 miles away.
Is it where you keep cold drinks?
Yes.
Javelin? Javelin.
Roman's a bit of a celebrity in Ukraine.
He's won medals for bravery and is often on TV speaking on behalf
of the Ukrainian military.
But in this war, his relationship with the army is more complicated.
He may be back working with Ukraine's special forces,
but he runs his own missions with his own units...
..and he's offered to sneak me past the checkpoints
to meet one of these groups on the front line.
Approaching the front line,
the biggest threat now is being spotted by Russian drones.
Their Orlan drone is noisy, but it can spend up to 16 hours in the air
hunting for enemy targets.
The drone pilot can then communicate the target's location
to nearby Russian artillery, who are standing by to fire.
ARTILLERY FIRE
We're now the only car on this road and close to the front.
We make an obvious target.
Then we get a radio call from up ahead,
from the commander we're going to meet.
This drone, Orlan, it was in the air.
You can hear it immediately.
We were moving and the shelling was chasing us.
Therefore, we decided to come here, to meet you,
to not endanger you from the first minute.
We will have 24 hours for that, so you will get your portion.
Don't worry.
HE CHUCKLES
We spend about 20 minutes in the village.
The drone that was chasing Hummer is almost certainly still in the air,
but Roman decides to make a run for the base.
CLATTERING
DOOR CREAKS
BIRDSONG
CAT MEOWS
This group of seven men has been living in this abandoned village
for six weeks...
..and Hummer is responsible for their safety.
He grew up in an army camp and has 15 years' military experience.
But most of the others are rookies
who've never served in the army before.
One just quit his job in advertising.
Another sold rugs for luxury cars.
Until a few months ago,
Lys was working as a sailor on container ships
before he fled his home city of Kherson.
HE LAUGHS
I don't like all what's happened,
and that is why I tell you I hope we will finish this war soon
and the whole world will know what is the real Russian...
..what is the Russian Federation. This is killers...
..and...motherfuckers.
LAUGHS: Excuse me.
This unit has been attacking Russian soldiers using small mortars,
but they've never had the firepower to destroy their heavy weapons.
Today's delivery could change that.
These heavy shells from the Czech Republic
are three times more powerful, enough to destroy a tank.
The hunt is now on for new, bigger targets.
The next morning, two mortar teams and Lys - the drone pilot -
are heading to different locations to launch a large joint attack
on a nearby Russian position.
THEY SPEAK IN UKRAINIAN
Let's go.
HE PANTS
OK, guys, jump in.
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
Huh?
Now we are going to...
..use our firing forces, all our firing means,
against the enemy's position - to push them back as much as we can.
The enemy has unlimited amount of the ammunition,
so they can afford to shoot just randomly, everywhere,
once in several minutes.
We cannot do that. We...
Every round, every mortar should go to the target.
And in order to do that, we need to have presence in the sky.
This is a present for our friends from England.
We show them how we work and how we protect our home.
For the last few weeks, Hummer's group has been attacking
this position just across the fields.
It's manned by about 60 Russian paratroopers
who've dug themselves into a network of trenches and foxholes.
It's one of hundreds of outposts that stretch for miles,
forming Russia's first line of defence.
Before today, the group could only target the soldiers.
But now, armed with heavy mortars, they're aiming to destroy
the Russian weapon that Hummer and the group fear most -
the tank that's hidden in these trees.
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
From the moment the first shell is fired, Hummer's got six minutes
before the Russians can start locating this position
and fire back.
ARTILLERY FIRE
The first shell lands 300 metres long,
and Lys radios in the coordinates
to try and get the next one on target.
ARTILLERY FIRE
The second shell lands closer, just 30 metres from the tank.
They've now used up more than half their time.
ARTILLERY FIRE
The third shell lands further away and in the other direction.
ARTILLERY FIRE
It looks like something's wrong with the mortar tube itself...
Let's go.
..but six minutes is up and Hummer's out of time.
Now, we're the target.
The fear is that the Russians can now pinpoint this position.
ARTILLERY FIRE IN DISTANCE
EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE
I don't like movement during this time.
PROJECTILE WHISTLES PAST
EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE
PROJECTILE WHIZZES PAST
EXPLOSION NEARBY
For Hummer, this return fire from a tank is getting too close.
He decides we have to break cover
and get across the road to a deeper ditch.
Guys, have a seat here.
As deep as poss-...
HE GROANS
LAUGHTER
This is the most dangerous thing in this war...
HE LAUGHS
..to cut your ass with the bushes!
Hummer's been fighting for five months.
The day the war started,
he sent his wife and three young children abroad for safety.
He hasn't seen them since.
I'm fighting for my country, for my family, for my identity.
I grew up in Soviet Union, and it was like, kind of a shame in Ukraine
to be Ukrainian.
Ukrainian language, it wasn't forbidden, you could speak,
but people will treat you not equal person to the Russian
if you speak Ukrainian.
They were trying to convince us that it was not such a nation, Ukraine,
it was invented by the West against Russia, blah, blah, blah.
It was all bullshit,
that only Russia is the real...kind of historical nation in this region,
blah, blah, blah. You know, we are fake, all this bullshit.
And they are still trying to do it, to continue.
Nevertheless, we have like, 30 years of independence,
we have still a lot of Russian influence in Ukraine, you know?
We will win this war, definitely,
but the problem is, how many lives will it take more, this war,
to get, to reach our goal?
And everybody understands that we will win, but nobody wants to be
this person who will not see the victory, you know?
Even me.
Hummer's got enough shells for one more attempt to destroy the tank.
ARTILLERY FIRE
EXPLOSION
The heavy mortar may have missed the tank,
but the other unit - using smaller shells - got a lot closer.
These smaller mortars could only have disabled the tank.
If they want to destroy these kind of big weapons,
they'll need the larger mortar.
And that's now broken.
As this is a volunteer unit, no-one here knows how to fix it.
LAUGHTER
I could feel Hummer's frustration.
In the regular army, he could have just given this to engineers
and told them to fix it.
His new group of volunteers might be committed,
but they're not used to obeying orders.
The broken mortar may be holding Hummer's team back,
but in Mykolaiv, the war is tilting in a new direction.
For the first time since the invasion,
Ukraine is going on the offensive, launching a counterattack
to retake Mykolaiv's neighbouring city, Kherson.
Kherson is the only regional capital to be captured and held by Russia,
and retaking it could change the course of the war.
This offensive is being made possible by the arrival
of powerful new missiles from America known as HIMARS.
These weapons are so accurate, they can fire 200 pounds of explosives
through a window 50 miles away...
..and Russia has nothing to match it.
And they've already begun destroying key bridges, supply routes
and ammunition stores far behind Russian lines
to prepare the ground for the Ukrainian attack on Kherson.
At Mykolaiv's intelligence HQ,
the hunt is now on for fresh Russian targets.
In the hunt for HIMARS targets, some of the most valuable intelligence
doesn't come from drones but from spies -
civilian informants behind Russian lines
who secretly communicate with people like Daryna.
Until a few months ago, she was a secondary school teacher in Kherson.
PHONE PINGS
News of the counteroffensive has reached Hummer and his men.
Their morale is high, but the routine's the same.
Every day, they're out in the fields,
attacking the Russian paratroopers.
But they're tired. And it's starting to show.
DEVICE BEEPS
ARTILLERY FIRE
EXPLOSION
ARTILLERY FIRE
Lys's adjustments aren't helping.
Every round is landing further from the target.
ARTILLERY FIRE
Every shell was off target and no-one seems to know why.
IN ENGLISH:
By the next morning, no-one's thinking about the argument.
The unit has received new orders.
The whole group is being redeployed to one of the main launching points
for the Ukrainian attack on Kherson.
It's like, no, we cannot imagine south of Ukraine without Kherson.
Kherson, for us, it's primary goal.
Strategically, it's very important.
And as soon as we get Kherson,
we understand that all south of Ukraine is liberated.
We're going to the place where another team is operating.
And guys are hearing that there is some kind of advances ongoing there.
Maybe we will be more useful there.
This is a kind of first step to see the new area of operation,
and maybe we will get more results there and we will be more useful.
Do you feel you're in the right place, doing the right thing?
I believe so, yes. I really believe so.
I was 11 years, like, civilian. It's still in my blood.
It's still in my mind.
I was quite good at it back in the time,
and I know that...
..I can do it better than others. And...
..me being here gives a chance to the guy who doesn't know
what he is doing.
Hummer's unit has been tasked with supporting another group
of inexperienced soldiers,
one made up of volunteers from the police force.
Just weeks ago, they were giving out speeding fines and parking tickets.
Now, they're heading to the front line.
The police chief decided to create among the police
some kind of battle unit, you know,
who will take part in the advanced and offensive operations.
Few of these police volunteers have served in the army before,
and one of them is Hummer's younger brother.
My brother is part of this unit.
And yesterday, they started to move from Odesa to this place.
All of them police officers, they are volunteers.
So...
..one of the purposes is to check...
..that they will be used...
..in proper way.
The small town of Bereznehuvate
sits on the edge of Mykolaiv's border with Kherson Region.
It's from here that much of the counter-offensive
is being launched.
Roman's in town to help co-ordinate the operation.
His units will all be supporting the police volunteers as they mount
one of the first ground offensives in the battle for Kherson.
Some of the police units have already begun an assault
on the Russian front line.
Their first objective is to retake the heavily defended village
of Andriivka.
This assault on Andriivka has already left
one police volunteer dead and four others injured.
They expect to start...offensive operation in two days again...
Da.
..with my brother, to send my brother...
..to storm this fort and take over these villages,
which is covered with, like...
..I don't know, hundreds of enemy troops.
Is your brother experienced? No.
They all not experienced.
They haven't been in combat yet.
They've been trained in some range back in Odesa,
and now they're sent here to assault.
This unit's lack of basic weaponry and training
is exactly what Hummer didn't want to hear.
We're going to the position of a mortar, of patrol police.
Hummer says he wants to show me
one of the police's front line positions, but I'm pretty sure
he just wants to see for himself
what his brother was letting himself in for.
We drive way out of town, and so we reach what I later realised
was the zero line - the furthest point of any Ukrainian soldiers.
This is the battle for Andriivka,
part of the first ground offensive to retake Kherson.
RADIO CHATTER
DISTANT EXPLOSIONS
PROJECTILE LAUNCHES, EXPLOSION
That was a tank firing on this position.
As usual, they take two shots.
We're waiting for a second shot.
ARTILLERY FIRE
RAPID ARTILLERY FIRE IN DISTANCE
How many days have you been here?
In this place? Mm-hm.
About three weeks.
Three weeks? Yeah.
Sleeping here?
Sleeping here, living here...
..fighting here.
ARTILLERY FIRE
And all these guys are police, patrol police?
Yeah. Have they been trained?
Er...
Seven days.
Seven days' training? Seven days' training,
and now we use mortar... Mortar.
ARTILLERY FIRE
Is that you?
HE LAUGHS
It was pretty stunning to see -
inexperienced soldiers, fresh from civilian life,
living for weeks in ditches on the front line
and clearly being highly effective.
Only three seconds.
It was a Russian tank.
When? Five minutes ago.
You were here.
The tank tried to attack us when we hided.
It was this tank.
And you just got it?
So you're lucky guys. Stay with us!
HE LAUGHS
I'd come to Ukraine with a question -
how was this nation standing firm
against the might of the Russian army?
And perhaps one of the most surprising answers
had been right in front of me from the start.
As well as Ukraine's powerful foreign weapons
and a regular army with smart tacticians,
there was also this vast shadow army of volunteers.
They were drawn from all walks of life but had one thing in common -
they simply were not going to give up until they could say they'd won.
And I think Hummer was realising that, too.
ARTILLERY FIRE
CAR SPEEDS UP
Two days later, Hummer learns that his brother has returned safely
from his first combat mission.
I'm proud of him.
I'm really upset.
I was, "What are you thinking? Blah, blah, blah,"
and I was thinking, "OK, go there one time.
"You will, you will... You will have enough,
"and then you understand and go back to sign the tickets...from parking."
After the first time, he said, "Yes, yes, it's all good.
"I'm going a second time." I said... HE SCOFFS
.."I cannot stop him."
Cannot stop him.
And really proud of him. Angry, but proud of him.
How many experienced people who served in the army who were trained,
how many we have? I don't know.
Most of them are gone.
Five months of war, and we need more and more and more.
And they are fresh and unexperienced, untrained.
What we can do? We just do whatever we can do to support them,
to use our, I don't know, skills.
That's what I said. I understand that my place is here.
I can help those people who doesn't have experience.
But we need to do the job as professional as other people
who served years in such units.
Hummer has decided to allow three of the most inexperienced members
of his group to conduct a mortar mission on their own.
They are fighting for their land, for their independence,
for their freedom.
People are not thinking and counting on our president.
People are thinking and counting on each other, on the nation.
And they know the purpose, they know the main goal,
why they're here.
I'll be back.
HE LAUGHS
If the president signed, for example, peaceful agreement
with the Russians, it will never stop. We will fight.
It's not about Zelensky and Putin,
it's about our nation and our future.
And if our troops will get to Kherson,
I can say it's like Russians are done here.
Really? Yeah.
Are you worried about them?
Yes, because it's the first time they are going to shoot without me
and attack Russians there. Yeah, because we trained them,
I believe we trained them very well. But...
Let's go.
HORNS HONK, CHEERING
CHEERING
EXCITED CHATTER