'4 HOURS': US ex-marine's shocking claims on life expectancy of frontline Ukrainian troops

An erstwhile US Marine fighting on the ground in Ukraine's Donbas against Russian forces shared horrifying details about the battle, one of which was the shockingly small life expectancy of Ukrainian troops. In a conversation with ABC News, Troy Offenbecker said that the city of Bakhmut continues to be so "bad" that it has been labelled as “the meat grinder."

“It’s been pretty bad on the ground. A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the front line," he said. Offenbecker, who fights for the foreign military unit International Legion, said that Moscow's troops have entirely surrounded “fortress Bakhmut” for months due to the city being located next to a crucial supply route.

Nonetheless, they have faced strong opposition from Ukrainian forces. The attacks on both sides have been relentless, according to Offenbecker. “[Russia] have maybe run into a shortage of shells lately, but the past couple of weeks it’s been nonstop. All day and night,” he said.

Bloody battle rages on in Bakhmut 

“With the amount of shelling, the amount of armour that they’ve brought in, I think it’s started. It’s just hard because the winter hasn’t been as cold as it usually is. They can’t move as much armour as I’m sure they would like to with the ground," he said about the Russian troops.  

Despite the bloody battle, Bakhmut is still home to a number of civilian families, although the figure is not nearly equal to the city's pre-war populace of about 73,000. “A lot of these families are poor. They don’t have anywhere to go … even if they wanted to. So the reality is there still are a lot of civilians that are stuck in the middle of this," the former marine said.