24 hours in kill zone: The base where Ukrainians fight for their lives

Mykola and his men need a way to communicate with them, so they launch a drone fitted with a loudspeaker.

They fly it over Bender and his men and begin to issue instructions.

“Mosquito, hold the one who ran further,” says a soldier in communication with the unit’s dispersed drone crews.

“Yes, hold that one. Tell him, record: turn back to the trench line, back to the trench line.”

As the Ukrainians focus on saving their men, the Russians blow up the stricken tank, which was packed with unused shells.

Then, they turn their attention to the tank crew, hunting them with a fixed-winged drone as the crew runs from tree line to tree line seeking cover.

But the Russians fail to take them out. After 40 nerve-shredding minutes, Bender and his team are shepherded to a Ukrainian position.

“The people have been brought to a safe place,” says Mykola.

“They’ve moved on to our lads’ position, and once the attention dies down, we’ll evacuate them. The tank is, sadly, lost — that’s war.”