As Ukraine enters the fourth year of war since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, fighting is raging like never before on the frontline in the country’s east.
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00:29This is one of the artillery units operating on the Pokrovsk front line in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
00:37Most of the soldiers greeting us with smiles are in their twenties.
00:42Yet, they are fighting one of the fiercest battles of the ongoing war against Russia.
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01:13Just minutes after our arrival, a firing order comes in from the command center.
01:21We have about maximum ten minutes to fight.
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01:48Russian troops are less than a dozen kilometers away.
01:52They are closing in on the nearby city of Pokrovsk.
01:56Shooting orders are very frequent. It's the fourth time in a row within a few minutes.
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02:05It's always like this.
02:06The maximum, it was fourteen. Fourteen, yes, fourteen per day.
02:12It's a lot. It's a lot because for now it is near.
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02:30So we're back at the base, Sam. The unit is relaxing just as if nothing was happening here.
02:39But the men know they're more exposed than ever.
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03:05There are political discussions suggesting that Ukraine should let go of some territory to end this war.
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03:33We head for the command post coordinating operations on the ground a few kilometers away from the unit's position.
03:43The deputy commander, a prosecutor before the war, is holding a briefing.
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06:10The officer interrupts himself. Live on screen, we see a drone unit attack unfolding on a group of Russian soldiers.
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07:28After three years of war, keeping high spirits has become more than a challenge for those who enrolled voluntarily.
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08:28The place is quiet on the day of our visit.
08:3522-year-old Sasha is the team's anesthetist.
08:45She and the staff are on a rare break after a trying night.
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09:02Sasha, what is the most difficult part of your work and what is the most gratifying for you?
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10:20Sasha was only 19 and had just completed her medical studies when she decided to join the army at the start of the Russian invasion.
10:30She's worked across the country's harshest areas ever since.
10:35The video Sasha shares with us was filmed not long before our visit.
10:42It's only a small glimpse of what the medics face more often than not.
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11:18On the next day, we head for the city of Pokrovsk.
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11:32Maxim, a civil-military cooperation officer in the Ukrainian army, is our guide.
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12:38So we've just arrived in Pokrovsk and you can hear the outgoing shelling.
12:45We're going to see if there's anyone still around.
12:49We're in one of the city's northern neighborhoods, the only one we could access.
12:54Russian forces are less than three kilometers away from some eastern and southern parts of the town.
13:00Even here, the scale of destruction is breathtaking.
13:05Most of the town's population has been evacuated.
13:11Less than 4,000 of its formerly 60,000 inhabitants are still there, says Maxim.
13:17He's helped many to leave.
13:20But convincing those who've remained has become a challenge.
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14:21The pensioner lets us into his home to show us how he survives.
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15:01So you're not afraid if Russian troops capture Pokrovsk?
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15:25Back in the streets, the air is thick with mist and also anxiety.
15:30Not everyone is indifferent to Maxim's words.
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17:18It's curfew time. The shop owners are closing their doors.
17:25In one hour, there will be no more lights.
17:28The shelling is intensifying and those who are still around are scurrying home.
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17:45We leave Pokrovsk and the Donetsk region to head further west.
17:54This is the start of the crucial route to the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region towards central Ukraine.
18:00On the way is one of the few vital industrial areas left in the country,
18:05a declared target for Moscow and the final destination of our journey.
18:10The giant guarding the entrance of the town of Ternivka in western Donbass sets the tone.
18:16We're at the heart of Ukraine's major coal mining basin, a crucial industry for the country's energy supply.
18:24The mine we visit is still operating full swing,
18:29with the help of an increasing number of women as more and more men are being mobilized.
18:36Oksana is among the underground soldiers holding the country's energy front line.
18:50She operates the cage that takes the workers down to the mine shafts.
18:59It's hard to work here. The materials are heavy.
19:04It's hard, but we do everything.
19:09I try to help myself and the country.
19:14That's why I do everything I can.
19:20Oksana fled her hometown of Barmut in the Donetsk region under heavy Russian shelling.
19:27Her father and her eldest son were killed in the bombings in 2023,
19:33only two years after she'd lost her mother and husband to COVID.
19:38Finding a job at the mine was a lifesaver, and as for all women here,
19:44it's also a way to take part in the war effort.
19:49We move down to the mine shafts.
19:58We're traveling about 300 meters down into the earth,
20:03and this is the deepest point of what is the oldest coal mine in the western Donbass region and Ukraine.
20:13Before the war, women were prohibited from working underground in Ukrainian mines
20:18under a law going back to Soviet times.
20:23They now account for about 5% of the underground workforce in this mine.
20:28Many women here were displaced by the war, losing their homes and former jobs.
20:33Tatiana used to be a nanny. Irina was an accountant.
20:43We don't carry heavy loads, we don't work with shovels.
20:48Men do all the hard work.
20:53I think I'm doing a very important job,
20:58and this is my invaluable contribution to our stable economy and our work.
21:03Help to the mine. The guys are at war, and the girls are at the mine.
21:08This is how we support each other.
21:18Irina feels she's lucky. Her husband, Andrei, is not far away.
21:23He's worked at the mine for years, as his father and grandfather did.
21:28He was the first to encourage her to apply after she lost her former job to the war.
21:33I don't have a girlfriend. My father retired.
21:38We are the miners.
21:43At the moment, the situation in Ukraine is very difficult.
21:48We are trying to work harder and harder.
21:53I think it's a very important job,
21:58as we used to mine coal and wind turbines.
22:11In the depth of the mine, the thunder of war is on everybody's mind.
22:16I'm always worried.
22:21How can you feel when there's a war in Ukraine?
22:26Your home, your family, your relatives, your child is growing up here.
22:31How can you feel? It's terrible.
22:36In any situation, we support each other.
22:41I feel comfortable here.
22:46And you? What did it change for you to have your wife working here?
22:51It's nice. It's calm.
22:56I know she's around.
23:01The company has pledged to keep employing women in the shafts once the war ends.
23:06Something Oksana and her colleagues hope will happen soon.
23:16She lets us follow her to the place where she finds a second breath,
23:21after a day at the mine.
23:36Before the war tore her life apart,
23:41Oksana was a dancer and choreographer for 25 years.
23:46She now gives dance classes to teenage girls twice a week,
23:51a remedy to all the pain she's suffered.
24:06The energy flowing from Oksana fills the dance studio.
24:36I believe in the best, in our victory.
24:41I hope I'll have enough strength to see our world.