 Foreign fighters backing Ukrainian soldiers trained near Russian-controlled Kremlin in the Donetsk region on Tuesday, January the 3rd. The international legion, called the Carpathian Sikh Battalion, is made up of a dozen soldiers of various nationalities and is split into three companies, one Spanish speaking, another English speaking, and the last one Ukrainian speaking. The commander who goes by his war name, Zvat, said the foreign volunteers were crucial to the fight against Russia. I can't overestimate their taking part in our battalion. These people, foreign fighters, are crucial for us. They are ready and have the right attitude. They want to fight. 60% of them show themselves very well in combat. They support us and fulfill all their tasks while asking only very few questions. We explain their tasks to them. What we're supposed to do and the expected result, said Zvat. Juan Pablo Jatado 41, a Colombian soldier who arrived in March to Ukraine, said the war had been very different to his previous experience fighting the guerrilla in his home country. Totally different from the internal war that we have in Colombia. It can't be compared because here there is a lot of artillery. Today, meaning Russians, hit us with missiles with cluster bombs and it is totally different. So we are hitting it, trying to survive and trying to get the Russians out of here from Ukraine, said Jatado. Frontlines have scarcely budged for weeks with most intense fighting raging around the city of Bakhmut, described by commanders on both sides as a meat grinder. Ukrainian forces are literally trying to advance over the corpses of their own soldiers toward Bakhmut and the military situation there remains the most difficult. Ukrainian military commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzny said. The governor of Ukraine's Luhansk province, which along with neighbouring Donetsk forms the industrial Donbas region claimed by Moscow, said on Tuesday Ukrainian forces had made steady advances in the direction of Russian-held Zvotov and Kremlin. Guero, a Brazilian soldier who arrived a month ago, said he had seen many injured but he would fight until the end. These are bloody battles. Many friends are injured but we have to recover them quickly. We will insist and persist until we win. Each stage, each space that we win, each centimetre that we gain is a victory, said Guero. Naz, the leader of the Carpathian Seek International Battalion, is a Ukrainian who lived in Argentina for 21 years. Once the war broke out on February 24th, Naz returned to the Ukraine on April 1st, 2022 as a volunteer with his brother. His brother died in battle two months ago. All the people who came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, wherever, none of them had seen a war like this, not one. With such precision of artillery, such precision of people drones, it is not easy. Here it plays with your mind. You have to adjust mentally because if you don't get used to the bombs falling near you very often, you go home quickly because you can't take it, he said. Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd announced several offensives, including strikes launched by Russian Aerospace Forces that it said had killed more than 130 foreign mercenaries in Donetsk. It said missile and air strikes launched at a hardware concentration near Druzkivka railway station in Donetsk had killed up to 120 Ukrainian personnel and destroyed two Himmars launchers and more than 800 rockets. Russia, which invaded Ukraine last February 24th, has increasingly resorted to mass air strikes against Ukrainian cities after suffering defeats on the battlefield in the second half of 2022. It denies targeting civilians. Elsewhere, Ukraine's military general staff said a December 31st strike on a Russian held area of the southern Kyrgyz region had killed or injured some 500 Russian troops. Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced several offensives that had killed more than 200 Russian troops in Donetsk, Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced a December 31st strike on a Russian held area of the southern Kyrgyz region, Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced a December 31st strike on a Russian held area of the southern Kyrgyz region, Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced a December 3rd strike on a Russian held area of the southern Kyrgyz region, Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced a December 3rd strike on a Russian held area of the southern Kyrgyz region, Russia's Defence Ministry on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2020, announced a December 3rd strike on a Russian held When we moved, we became under the supervision of the ZSU, the procedure was also a little adapted, which allowed us to form them in a short period of time, legally and officially, to give them the rights like our soldiers, and successfully perform tasks without any problems.