共通の敵は「泥」　ウクライナ東部前線

【バフムート（ウクライナ）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナ東部ドンバス地方で、同国兵のグリゴリーさん（３９）は慣れた手つきで軍用トラックのハンドルを操り、泥だらけの曲がりくねった道を時にスリップしながら走行していく。（写真はウクライナ東部バフムート近郊で、泥に覆われた道を通行するウクライナ軍の車両）
　ここ半年間、旧ソ連で設計された「ジル１３１」を運転し、兵員と砲弾を前線に近い砲撃拠点まで輸送する任務を担ってきたグリゴリーさん。「一番難しいのは坂を上がる時だ」と話した。
　寒く雪深い冬が終わり、春の雨が降って気温が上がってくると、ドンバスの戦場に再び泥が戻ってきた。
　数か月にわたりウクライナ・ロシア両軍が攻防を繰り広げているバフムート周辺も、数日間晴れたかと思えば、また雨に見舞われた。
　世界でも有数の肥沃（ひよく）な土壌を誇るウクライナで、東部の道はたびたびこの黒い土に覆われる。
　こうなると両軍共に、昨年１１月からほぼこう着した状態が続く前線を押し動かすような進撃は困難になる。
　グリゴリーさんが所属する砲兵部隊の隊長はＡＦＰに対し「双方が天候の回復を待っている」と話し、「大規模攻勢は不可能か、いずれにしても極めて難しい。時間が利するのは防御側だ」と述べた。
　バフムート付近に配備された歩兵部隊の幹部も、「兵士は皆、塹壕（ざんごう）の泥の中にとどまって陣地を守らなければならない」として、雨は「大問題」だと述べた。
　「われわれも相手側も、今は装軌車は使えない。雨がやんで晴天が３～４週間続けば、間違いなく大規模攻撃がある」との見方を示した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/24-17:23）

Gripping the steering wheel of his truck, Grygoriy expertly made his way along a muddy route to take personnel and ammunition to an artillery position near Ukraine's front line.
The hardest part is going uphill, the 39-year-old soldier said as the truck in turns slipped and then found its grip on a twisting, churned-up path through some fields.
Grygoriy, who has been driving the Soviet-designed Zil-131 for the past six months, said the 6x6 truck saves us every time in treacherous driving conditions.
On some parts of the route, the muddy black traces left by tyres or tank tracks form a series of parallel lines a dozen metres wide.
After a cold and snowy winter, the arrival of spring rains and milder temperatures has brought back mud to the Donbas battlefields.
Videos shared on social media show soldiers wading through trenches and vehicles destroyed after getting stuck in the mud.
After some days of dry weather, the rain came back to Donbas on Sunday, particularly around Bakhmut, where the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has raged for months.
Near the city, the driver of a Ukrainian T-64 tank said the Soviet model has no problem going through the mud -- its tracks were designed so that they get stuck very rarely.
Newer models such as the T-72 or the T-90 are worse, said the soldier, who asked not to be named.
- Major offensive 'impossible' -
The roads in this part of Ukraine are frequently covered in the country's famous black soil -- one of the most fertile in the world because it is rich in humus.
Brought in from the fields by tank tracks, it becomes a greasy mud in the rain.
The conditions make it difficult for either side to shift a front line that has remained relatively unchanged since November.
Both sides are waiting for weather conditions to improve, Ruslan, the head of Grygoriy's artillery unit, told AFP.
Any major offensives are impossible or at least very problematic. Time is on the side of those defending, he said.
The mud can also slow down evacuations.
Of course it's a problem but we have always been able to find an appropriate vehicle for an injured soldier to be transported to hospital, a member of a medical unit in a small village near the front line said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
For the more serious cases, we transport them with the vehicles that we have here, even though we cannot move quickly.
You've seen the conditions here, said the medical worker, pointing to a crater-pocked road covered in thick, slippery mud.
A lieutenant in an infantry unit near Bakhmut said the rain was a major problem.
Our boys stay in the trenches, in the mud and they have to defend the position.
Tracked vehicles are also blocked at the moment -- both on our side and on theirs.
If the weather dries up and stays that way for three or four weeks there will definitely be a large-scale attack, he said.