Ukrainian border guards relieved after months holding positions near Russia's Kursk Oblast

Ukraine's State Border Guard Service has issued an account of fighters from the Steel Border brigade who spent months on duty without breaks in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast.

Source: press service for the State Border Guard Service; Colonel Ivan Shevtsov, spokesperson for the Steel Border brigade, in a comment to Ukrainska Pravda

Details: A fighter who goes by the alias Pastor spent 94 days on duty at the positions, while Koreia, a brother-in-arms of Pastor, stayed for 131 days without rotation.

Shevtsov told Ukrainska Pravda that the fighters were stationed on the Kursk front near the village of Varachyne in Yunakivka hromada. During their deployment, they repelled six Russian assaults and successfully held their positions. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories – ed.]

In December, Koreia sustained a gunshot wound but decided to remain at the position.

Rotation on this front is particularly challenging. Each relief at the positions is a carefully planned operation. Withdrawal carries the same dangers as holding the line. Replacements must move gradually, under cover, with risk at every stage. For this reason, their withdrawal from the positions took nearly two weeks, the State Border Guard Service noted.

Snowy conditions also aided the withdrawal, as Russian UAVs were unable to detect the movement of Ukrainian fighters. Fellow soldiers delivered camouflage suits to Pastor and Koreia by drone.

Shevtsov said border guards generally use drones to supply such positions right at the edge of active combat, particularly for dropping ammunition, water and provisions.

Several soldiers remain on this front, holding designated areas for months at a time. Shevtsov praised their heroism, noting that the fighters are preventing a Russian breakthrough despite continuous Russian assault attempts.

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