Defending under complete siege: The National Guard shared how they repelled attacks for three weeks (video).

From July 10 to September 16, a group of eight National Guard fighters fiercely defended their position for three weeks despite being completely surrounded. Ultimately, they successfully repelled an attack from an enemy assault unit composed of tanks, armored vehicles, and an entire airborne platoon. This was reported by Ukrainian defenders in an interview with war correspondent Yuriy Butusov.

For 67 days, the defense of the stronghold near the village of Sporne, located near Siversk, was maintained by a group from the "Svoboda" battalion of the 4th Brigade of the National Guard "Rubizh." The platoon was commanded by Senior Lieutenant Vladislav Stotsky. At the age of 25, he took on the role of deputy platoon commander for personnel work, a position that did not originally foresee participation in frontline battles.

However, Vladislav requested to become a platoon commander to fight on the front lines, inspiring his soldiers by his personal example.

It turned out that most of his subordinates had no military experience prior to 2022, yet they demonstrated a high fighting spirit and placed complete trust in their commanders. This enabled the group to effectively resist massive attacks, even under conditions of isolation.

Defense Tactics and the Decisive Battle

According to the lieutenant, the situation on the Siversk front was deteriorating, and neighboring units were forced to retreat. However, the "Svoboda" battalion received orders to hold their positions at any cost. The defense of the stronghold "Pincher" was carried out using stealth tactics—fighters hid in small bunkers and emerged only for combat.

Support was provided by drones and artillery from the "Svoboda" battalion, as well as units from the 54th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This cooperation allowed for effective repulsion of enemy attacks.

Stotsky recounted the decisive clash with the enemy. On September 16, a Russian assault squad attacked their position with two tanks, two MT-LBs, and BMPs carrying troops. At that time, the Ukrainian defenders were armed with three light grenade launchers, which were not designed to take out heavy equipment like tanks, along with infantry weapons.

"I’m told, 'Pincher, get ready, you have a tank at 9 o'clock, distance 10 meters.' I crawl out of my hole, and they hand me an 'AT' (AT-2 anti-tank mine—editor’s note). I see the tank, with active armor and covered with anti-cumulative mesh. I think maybe I can toss it under the turret, but after I fire, it flies over the turret. They gave me another one—but it didn’t work," the fighter recounts.

The lieutenant admitted that if there had been a hit, the Russians would have located their position and destroyed it with a tank shot. However, eventually, drones began to strike the enemy equipment.

The enemy managed to land infantry near the stronghold, leading to a firefight. Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, the soldiers managed to repel the attack, destroying the assault unit. However, during the fighting, one of the fighters, Alexander Khomyak, was killed.

After completing their mission, Vladislav Stotsky and six surviving fighters broke through the encirclement by command order. Unfortunately, they were unable to recover the body of their fallen comrade.

Earlier, we reported on the combat operations of the 33rd OMBr of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, together with other units, successfully repelled a large-scale attack by Russian occupiers in the Kurakhove direction.