Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield revealed: They are telling us to surrender

The BBC witnessed Ukrainian artillery shelling Russian positions.

Russian soldiers were moving towards an important road leading into the city. At least one of them was wounded, maybe even killed. The images are shocking. They are a reminder of the bloody reality of the war that Russia started and in which hundreds of thousands of people have already died - "endless bloodshed", as the current US President Donald Trump described it.

In a modest house converted into a command center, just a few kilometers from the artillery positions, soldiers monitor the destruction on the ground.

Houses and buildings have been razed to the ground, it is much worse than six months ago.

Pokrovsk, an important traffic point, has been defending itself against Russian attacks for days.

Despite everything, there was a quiet hope this week - diplomatic pressure from the US, Europe and Turkey could finally lead to direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, for the first time in three years. Even the most stubborn soldiers admit they are hopeful.

"Maybe this is the beginning of the end"

"I think something could happen, especially since it is now Russia that has asked for talks. From 2022, they refuse any contact," said one officer who uses the call sign Kozak.

"I want to believe that this is the beginning of the end of the war. We managed to destroy their rear positions and supply lines. They no longer have the strength they had at the beginning. I think something will change," he adds.

Yuri, 37, who worked at a technology company before the invasion, agrees.

"They need to start talking. We soldiers want the war to end. But we can't stop it ourselves, we didn't start it," Yuri says as he tracks the movement of the enemy soldiers on the screen and relays the coordinates to the artillery.

"Now we have a new threat – drones with a fiber optic cable that unwinds as they fly. We can't detect them, let alone shoot them down. There are certainly more of them than we think," says Yuri.

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The Russians will take advantage of every opportunity

Everything is ready in position. Soldiers load a French self-propelled howitzer Caesar. Since the beginning of the war, France has supplied dozens of these systems to Ukraine and is trying to speed up production.

"I am delighted with the accuracy. We can use a wide range of ammunition, and it is introduced into combat very quickly. It is much more effective than the Soviet equipment I used before," says Kozak.

They send four shells, and each shot is deafening. Russian shells can also be heard in the distance. The battle continues.

"The enemy is constantly attacking. We need a lot of ammunition to stop them. We hope that our international partners will provide us with everything we need, because if we have to choose what to target, the Russians will use every opportunity," says Kozak.

When asked about possible concessions to Russia in exchange for peace, the soldiers do not hide their displeasure.

"Of course I want to go home. I have an eight-year-old daughter, I miss her terribly. But I don't believe they would stop if we gave them a piece of land. They would come back in a few years and start over," says Yuri.

"And those who have not even set foot here, those in the armchair, are talking about how the territory should be handed over and that everything will be over. They will never understand how many brothers and friends we have lost. We must not give in even an inch," says Kozak firmly.

"I don't want to live under occupation"

The consequences of three years of war are visible all over the country - photos of fallen soldiers, decorated with flags and flowers, stand by the roads, on the walls of city squares and above fresh graves.

In Zaporozhye, Jana Stepanenko drives to the grave of her son Vladislav, a 22-year-old drone operator who died on February 21. She brings him hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies that he loved. Together with her daughter Nicole, she cleans the grave, but they soon break down in tears.

For Jana, the announcement of direct negotiations does not bring hope.

"It seems to me that this war will last forever. Of course I hope for peace because people are dying here and there. But Putin is greedy. His hunger for our country knows no bounds," says Jana.

"I hope my child did not die in vain"

Part of the Zaporozhye region is under Russian occupation, and Moscow has repeatedly demanded the entire Zaporozhye, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions as a condition for peace.

"Not at all. I want to live in Ukraine, not in Russia. We saw what they did under occupation, what they did in Bucha, their cruelty and torture," Jana says.

She points to the crater near the grave: "They even hit this cemetery."

With tears in her eyes, she concludes: "I hope that my child did not die in vain. That we will still win. That the whole of Ukraine will be free."