Note: 17th Paragraph contains profane language.

Jonathan Landay

VILKHIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters ) – A near constant crump of gunfire was heard over the battered hamlet this Wednesday. This is a testimony to fierce fighting that took place beyond its windswept fields between Ukrainian troops attempting a counter-offensive against Russian forces once occupying the area.

The Ukrainian army drove the foes out of Vilkhivka, Ukraine, in April. However, these narrow streets are still littered with shrapnel, shell-craters and downed cables.

At the intersection of Ukrainian-Moladzhna Streets, three Russian portable rocket launchers were found. Two Russian armored vehicles were dragging their hulks into an informal checkpoint.

A Russian soldier’s bloated body lay outside the shell of a local school, which his unit took over as a base.

Andrii Korkin (48), a contractor, said that he grew up in Kharkiv and attended this school. He was visiting his parents to see their home. I am fluent in Russian. Russian is my first language. The Russian Federation is my home.

The lanky father-of-two spoke as distant blasts of artillery fired and multiple rocket launches echoed over fields normally sown with wheat and corn.

Vilkhivka can be found less than 30km (20 miles) to the south of Russia’s border. This is where fighting has erupted between Ukrainian troops who are engaged in counter-offensives launched by them and Russian forces which failed to capture Kharkiv on February 24.

A source in Ukraine said that the Ukrainian military made new gains Wednesday, which suggested a potential shift in the course the war. According to the Ukrainian military, troops advanced within just a few kilometres of the frontier.

Moscow invaded Russia as part of a special military operation to neutralize a threat to Russia’s safety. The Ukraine and its allies deny that Russia invaded Ukraine in a “special military operation” to demilitarize a neighbor that threatened Russia’s security. This unprovoked aggression has claimed thousands of lives, decimated millions, and destroyed cities and towns.

Vilkhivka is just beginning to see villagers returning to Vilkhivka, looking for furniture or clothing that has not suffered serious damage.

While the Russians drove out the Ukrainian troops, the pensioner Nikolay Riyanko (67 years old) said that he helped other local residents.

According to him, the invaders took Vilkhivka’s first night. He said that villagers had stolen a Russian diesel-fuelled tanker truck from the city, as well as another filled with ammunition. A box of six rocket-propelled grenades was taken by him, which he later gave to the Ukrainian soldiers.

“They burned Russian equipment and soldiers with those shells,” he said, recounting his tale before returning to shuttling belongings from his shell-torn home to an old car parked before a crater from a Russian missile. The remains of the shell were found close to it.

He said that Russian troops had been hiding in their homes before the conflict broke out.

“They were hiding behind the locals,” said Riyanko. “They gathered about 30 people and kept us near one of their positions. There they had a machine gun, a tank, an infantry fighting vehicle.”

“They kept us from 6 am to 5 pm so that the Ukrainian military would not shoot,” he continued. The Russians finally released the group. Thus began the battle for Vilkhivka.

“Can they really be called real soldiers after that?” he spat. “They are motherfuckers, not military men!”

“I sent my wife to the basement of my friend, but I did not have time to hide. We lived for eight days in the basements,” Riyanko recalled. “When the shell hit my house, the debris crushed my head. I got a concussion. I couldn’t hear anything for three days.”

Kharkiv’s civilian volunteers eventually reached Riyanko and his wife to help evacuate the village.

“Today is the first time I have come back,” he said. “While I sort out the rubble and debris in my house, I’ll stay with my neighbors for a while. Their house survived.”