Brave Brigade

Lviv – We meet Vitalij at the exit of the largest hospital center in the city, which houses the “Unbroken” rehabilitation clinic. Formed in the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade “Marko Bezruchko” as an artilleryman, Vitaly failed to have some health problems that could have exempted him from compulsory conscription to enlist as a volunteer in the army from the very first days of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite his wife’s repeated invitations not to do so, without even a moment’s hesitation, Vitalij leaves Poland (where he had been living for 16 years) to return to defend his country. Having been deployed in defense of Avdiivka since its establishment – which took place in March 2022 – its brigade was among those that were able to inflict the heaviest damage ever on the Russian formations and the last to abandon the AKHZ plant before the capture of the city in February 2024.

«The 110th is the Russians’ nightmare. For exactly two years we have repelled all their assaults and we will continue to do so, even after Avdiivka».

Vitalij’s direct testimony confirms from the field what most military sources and the most authoritative think tanks estimate, namely that, together with the 47th mechanized brigade deployed near nearby Stepove, the granite heroes of the 110th brigade were able to crush over 40,000 soldiers Russians in 23 months, maintaining for all that time a ratio of 13 Russian armored vehicles destroyed for each one lost by the Ukrainian formations.

«With the help of anti-aircraft, we managed to shoot down…