(4 Mar 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Near Bakhmut, Ukraine - 3 March 2024
1. Various of Ukrainian mortar unit crew running towards their weapon position
HEADLINE: Ukraine produces mortar shells to repel Russia
2. Trench
ANNOTATION: Ukrainian forces are battling Russian advances near the Bakhmut area.
3. Wide of Ukrainian soldiers uncovering mortar position
4. Wide of soldier uncovering ammunition
ANNOTATION: At a well-hidden mortar position of the Ukrainian army’s 28th Brigade, troops have felt a Russian push into the area.
ANNOTATION: But they have managed to hold the position for over a year.
5. Various of crew loading the mortar
6. Mortar firing
7. Soldiers going into underground ammunition storage
ANNOTATION: They use 120-mm mortar shells produced locally. The weapons have proved crucial because of shortages in ammunition from western countries.
ANNOTATION: That shortfall has meant ground has been lost elsewhere in Ukraine.
9. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Major Artem Kholodkevych, Ukrainian army 28th Brigade member:
"We have some Ukrainian-made mortars, which we use to inflict fire damage. We also have some Western ammunition, but there is less of it. We are able to cover our need from our own, domestic production.”
10. Various of soldiers covering the mortar position
ANNOTATION: Ukraine still lacks adequate air defense to protect its cities.
11. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Oleksander (no surname given), mortar unit commander of the Ukrainian army’s 28th Brigade:
"We have a lot of problems with enemy aircraft. They have started dropping many guided aerial bombs. Three or four planes come in the morning and at night. There are a lot of them flying around.”
12. Pan of mortar crew running from trench to hide-out
ANNOTATION: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Western allies to boost Ukraine’s air defenses as Russian drones strike both military and civilian targets.
STORYLINE:
Ukrainian forces are battling Russian efforts to advance in the Bakhmut area.
This well-hidden mortar position of the Ukrainian army’s 28th Brigade has been experiencing a Russian push in the area they hold.
"Over the past weeks we have seen attacks in several times. We see their consistent attempts to work in rotation in small groups along the frontline. But we managed to detect these, and to hit them with our mortars,” said Major Artem Kholodkevych.
His unit has held the same position for more than a year, against ever-changing Russian tactics.
The 28th brigade use 120-mm mortar shells produced locally, so are unaffected by delays in Western weapons and ammunition.
"We have Ukrainian-made mortars, which we use to inflict fire damage. We also have some Western ammunition, but there is less of it, because we are able to cover our need from our own, domestic production,” Major Kholodkevych told The Associated Press while showing his brigade’s underground ammunition storage.
According to information released by Ukrainian authorities last week, domestic manufacturing of 60-, 82-, and 120-mm mortar shells was increased by a factor of 42 in 2023, compared to the previous year.
But Ukraine lacks air defences to protect its troops.
"We have a lot of problem with enemy aircraft. They have started dropping many guided aerial bombs. Three or four planes come in the morning and at night. There are a lot of them flying around," a brigade commander told The Associated Press.
AP video by Bela Szandelszky
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