A Ukrainian serviceman walks an empty street in the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on February 25, 2023. (Photo by Serhii Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

A Ukrainian MSLR BM-21 “Grad” fires towards Russian positions, near Bakhmut at the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 21, 2023. (Photo by Iryna Rybakova via AP Photo)

Ukrainian servicemen of the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade fires a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 3, 2024. (Photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)

A Ukrainian Army liaison officer Vira, 22, plays with her rat Malyi (Tiny) at her positions near a frontline, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 8, 2024. (Photo by Inna Varenytsia/Reuters)

Ukrainian territorial defence soldiers from the Donetsk Oblast fire D-20 artillery in the direction of Toretsk, Ukraine, 24 July 2025. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A soldier fires a rocket gun as Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region, where the country's most intense clashes occur, attend intensive combat training by using both domestic and foreign weapons amid Russia-Ukraine war in Donetsk, Ukraine on May 08, 2023. Infantry is always prepared in a conflict where heavy weaponry like aircraft, helicopters, tanks and other heavy armored vehicles, artillery systems, and mortars are widely deployed on frontline. Combat readiness and experience training of the 57th Brigade of the Ukrainian army continues in Donetsk. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

People carry bags containing their belongings past a burning residential block, caused by a recent shelling according to locals, on the outskirts of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine February 9, 2015. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A Ukrainian serviceman smokes a cigarette at his position at the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, January 11, 2023. (Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)