Ukrainian female soldier recalls her final night in Bakhmut: mines burned before they exploded

A Ukrainian female soldier describes her final night in Bakhmut – a city that became one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Ukraine-Russia war. Her recollections are filled with burning mines and walls of flame that rose from the earth as if the ground itself was breathing out fire.

Bakhmut, an eastern Ukrainian city that gained notoriety as one of the bloodiest battlefields of the war, ultimately fell to Russian forces in May 2023 after months of encirclement. A Ukrainian female soldier who lived through that final night there recalls the moment in vivid and painful detail.

She describes how a small orange flash first appeared behind the basement entrance – a flicker in the darkness. Then another. And then an entire chain of fire that seemed to rise straight from the ground. Walls of flame shot upward, as if the earth itself was breathing out. Mines burned before they exploded.

Killing and beauty side by side

The soldier's recollections carry a sharp contradiction – while killing raged through the city, she remembers cherry blossoms blooming in the rubble. This image has become for her a symbol of the entire war's absurdity: beauty and destruction side by side, life and death in the same moment.

The Battle of Bakhmut lasted over nine months and is considered one of the longest and bloodiest battles in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian defence forces withdrew from the city only after fierce resistance that involved volunteer units as well.

The human face of war

Personal testimonies from soldiers are becoming an essential part of the war's chronicle. These stories help us understand the human cost paid by both men and women on the front lines – a cost that statistics and strategic maps can never fully convey.