Recon battalion commander speaks about heroism of his soldiers

This was stated by battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Shuhailo in an interview with Ukrinform.

“On the Kursk front, four of our servicemen from a support unit, armed only with rifles and a handheld grenade launcher, were tasked with covering reconnaissance troops at the front line. When North Korean troops entered the settlement of Makhnovka, our soldiers abandoned the grenade launcher because the distances were too short to use it effectively and engaged in close combat with small arms. The four of them faced around 15 North Korean soldiers and eliminated most of them. Our troops achieved such success that the remaining soldiers turned around and fled into the forest shelter they had come from, although this is not typical for them,” Shuhailo said.

According to him, the soldiers held their position and continued supporting reconnaissance units with grenade fire while they conducted a clearing operation.

He also recalled another episode in September 2025 during the liberation of the settlement of Kucheriv Yar in the Donetsk region. The operation progressed very quickly: over two weeks, about 30 enemy soldiers were killed and 50 were taken prisoner. Ukrainian reconnaissance forces were outnumbered two to one. “I am proud that our servicemen completed such a mission. These were not only reconnaissance troops, but also support units – UAV operators, FPV drone teams, and command personnel,” the commander added.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, soldiers of the 71st Separate Airmobile Brigade of the 8th Air Assault Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed 29 Russian troops who attempted to infiltrate Ukrainian rear positions through a gas pipeline in the Sumy region.

Photo: 132nd Separate Reconnaissance Battalion