Ukraine's 425th Skala Assault Battalion In Thick of Fighting. As Usual.

The Ukrainian military has proven the worth of almost all its brigades since the Russians invaded, but when things become especially difficult anywhere on the front, they have come to rely on a number of elite units like the Skala Battalion, which has served everywhere from Kyiv to Bakhmut  - and is now helping defend Pokrovsk. JL

Decimus reports in Daily Kos:

Wherever the action is the hottest on the long 600 mile plus battle front in Ukraine, there you will find the Skala Battalion.  They take their name from the founder of the all volunteer unit, Yuriy Harkaviy, call sign “Skala” or “rock”.  They were baptized in the early battles to save Kyiv at the onset of the war in 2022. They liberated Izyum during the Kharkiv counter-offensive, were at Bakhmut, were one of the units to breach the first Surovikin Line and in the battle for Robotyne during last summer’s Ukrainian counter-offensive. Now they are at Pokrovsk and one of the reasons it has not been taken.

Wherever the action is the hottest on the long 600 mile plus battle front in Ukraine, there you will find the soldiers of the Skala Battalion.  They take their name from the original founder of the all volunteer unit, Yuriy Harkaviy, call sign “Skala” or “rock”.  They were founded and baptized in the toughest early battles to save Kyiv at the onset of the war in 2022.  They were again at the van of the battle to liberate Izyum during the Kharkiv Thunder Run counter-offensive. They were at Bakhmut, too. And they were one of the units to breach the first Surovikin Line as well as join in the subsequent battle for Robotyne during last summer’s Ukrainian counter-offensive.  

Now they find themselves placed between the Russian hordes and the pivotal logistics hub of Pokrovsk.  And once again Skala and their drones and assorted anti-tank weaponry, for which they are best know, are really working the Russians.  Skala, among other Ukrainian units, are showing why the city of Pokrovsk still stands even though observers had expected its fall many weeks ago.  Here’s why … a Skala “one man army” taking on a whole Russian assault squad and making quick work of them with his “now you see me now you don’t” fighting skills:

There have been many instances of such show of bravery in this war. Like in the case last spring when a single Ukrainian soldier(and his helper) took on a mechanized assault force attacking his trench:And there will be many more. It has just been reported that near Selydove on the Pokrovsk front, a Ukrainian National Guard unit alone destroyed the equivalent of 3 companies of Russians(over 300 soldiers) in just one engagement:

Ukraine's National Guard troops repelled 13 Russian attacks near the town of Selydove in Donetsk Oblast over the past day, killing or injuring around three companies of soldiers, spokesperson Ruslan Muzychuk told Ukrainska Pravda on Oct. 23.

www.yahoo.com/...

It is such fighting spirit that assures optimists that Ukraine will bend but not break under the relentless Russian push all along the battle trace.  Pokrovsk may yet fall but the Ukrainians will sell it to the Russians(and now the North Koreans) at a very high price. 

There was once a general by the name of Nathaniel Greene who said the following after a famous battle:

“I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price as Bunker Hill” 

They too, a seemingly over-matched army, were fighting against the impositions and depredations of the then global hegemon, the British monarchy. It is such fighting spirit that will see Ukraine through in their fight against a revanchist neighboring world power.  They deserve our unflinching whole-hearted support.  They are in the same place that we, Americans, once were.