In Bakhmut, a fierce battleground in eastern Ukraine, heavy snow fell for the first time in 10 years, and the trenches turned into fortresses and the fighting came to a halt.
From the 31st of last month to the 1st of this month, a strong snowstorm raged in eastern Ukraine, including Bakhmut.
According to local weather reports, the snowfall was the heaviest in eastern Ukraine and southern Russia at the same time in 10 years.
The trenches where the fierce battle was taking place were also covered with snow. Video filmed in the trenches shows Ukrainian soldiers heavily armed with rifles, body armor and ammunition panting while buried in the snow.
In another video, soldiers with snow piled up all over their bodies to the extent that their uniforms turned white depended on a small bonfire to maintain their body temperature.
The brutal battle that had been going on since August of last year naturally came to a halt. The soldiers in the trenches laid down their rifles and looked at the scenery of the snowy battlefield as if they were appreciating it.
The British daily Telegraph described the heavy snowfall as bringing “an eerie sense of calm” to Ukrainian soldiers.
However, the Russian army attempted an attack to take Bahmut even in heavy snow.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that there were a total of 170 attacks on Russian forces over the past 1 day. Among them, a total of 25 direct clashes occurred, in which 162 Russian soldiers were killed and 157 were injured, he added.
In the midst of this, when the accumulated snow melts, the notorious muddy ‘Rasputitsa’ season begins, which comes as a bigger nightmare for the Russian army.
Rasputica refers to the time when the snow accumulated throughout the winter melts and seeps into the frozen ground and turns into an unimaginable mud bath.
According to the current forecast, after the heavy snowfall, it seems that the temperature will return to normal warm temperatures from early April, but it is only a matter of time before the snow melts, with the highest temperature rising to 17 degrees on the 2nd.
When the snow melts, it permeates all the land, including trenches, forming a muddy mud that makes it difficult for tanks and armored vehicles to operate as well as people to move.