Gli ucraini come gli estintori che fanno avanzare russo “

The forests and low hills of Ukraine’s northern borderland are a very different battle terrain to the featureless steppe of Donbas. There are more places to hide, and more positions to ­defend. Still, Russia’s attritional mode of combat is largely unchanged.

Most days, on the stretch of the border between Sumy and Kursk defended by Ukraine’s 4th Rangers Regiment, a dozen or so enemies will ride into battle on quad bikes trying to capture a smallholding or village. The task for “Bakhcha”, commander of the regiment, and his men is to anticipate the sally and snuff it out.

The Rangers, a special forces regiment, was created last March for the purpose of carrying out reconnaissance and assault missions of their own. For the past few weeks, however, amid the opening salvoes of a new Russian offensive, their role has been more akin to a “fire extinguisher”, Bakhcha says.

“They are testing our defence lines by making daily raids on villages, seeing where they can find a weakness,” said Bakhcha, a thickset 33-year-old ­colonel who has been fighting the Russians since 2014. Bakhcha — meaning a garden for growing watermelons in Ukrainian — is his call sign.

Ceasefire talks may be in progress, but the Kremlin’s professed desire for peace is reflected little in its military ­operations. Russia is now beginning a spring offensive on multiple fronts, and Ukraine says that the number of daily attacks has doubled over the past ­fortnight