In a hospital yard an old Humvee is surrounded by soldiers with long faces, wide eyes and hollow cheeks. The doors are shrapnel-ridden, the windows misty and the Ukrainian flag hangs in tatters. The flag, the men and the Humvee have the dazed look of those who have cheated death. Artemovsk, once a backwater known for a salt mine and wine, has become the centre of Ukraine's mismanaged but dogged war effort. Inside the hospital, the trauma ward is filled with wounded from the battle for Debaltseve, some 45km (28 miles) to the south-east. After their latest push on Debaltseve, pro-Russian rebels are hemming in thousands of Ukrainian troops on three sides, and are close enough to shell their supply route from Artemovsk. Ukraine's generals have ordered their men to hold the line while diplomats struggle to revive the Minsk peace deal. Their soldiers fight valiantly, but with little understanding of the strategy. "We've either got to attack and even out the line, or retreat," says one. "We're doing neither."
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