As we reach 150 days of war in Ukraine, what does the future hold?

Ukrainian commanders say Western weaponry is making a significant difference to their fight, reports Kim Sengupta, but they do not expect the violence to end soon

A Ukrainian serviceman stands in an infantry mobility vehicle in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine (AFP/Getty)

As dusk falls on another fiery summer’s day in the Donbas, Captain Oleksandr Radchenko gives orders for his unit to open fire with their M142 Himars missile system. The six rockets burst up in a spray of orange flame from the back of an M1140 truck, to the cheers of Ukrainian troops.

There is an even louder cheer as the 227mm GPS-guided missiles hit their target, a Russian 2S19 Msta self-propelled howitzer. Russian forces have been using it to attack villages around Lyman and Slovyansk for weeks, killing and maiming people and destroying property. Now, at last, the Ukrainians can hit back.

At this time, the rate of casualties among Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine is horrendous: more than a hundred troops are being killed each day, with around another 350 wounded. Of nine soldiers we meet in the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in a three-day period, four are subsequently killed and two others are wounded.