Attribution: November 4, 2025. President Zelenskyy and General Syrskyi visiting the Rubizh Brigade in Pokrovsk. Brigade Commander Col. Serhii Sidorin proudly wearing his Rubizh emblem Army T-shirt. Photo credit: Official website of the President of Ukraine
News came yesterday that after throwing a legion of barely-trained Mobiki at the Ukrainian defenses on the Pokrovsky line, the Russian command has decided that is not working(fast enough?). They have to try something new because they’re :
'Crawling over their own dead': Ukrainian military on Russian tactics in Pokrovsk
"They started dragging these sabotage and reconnaissance groups into the city in the summer, then the infantry started crawling in. That is, their losses are terrible, but they never cared about them and do not care now. They literally crawl over their own corpses, and this is not figuratively, but literally so, and it does not bother them much,"
global.espreso.tv/...
So they are now sending in their “Special Forces” or “Spetznaz” . Somehow, unlike in the Ukrainian example, they are not sending their Special Forces in by “Black Hawk”, “Hind” or “Alligator” helicopters. Those Spetznaz guys are probably gonna have to trudge their way through the Ukrainian bezdorizhzhia"(mud season) into the Pokrovsky “meat grinder” at the end... hoping that the late Fall dense fog will help shield them from 24/7 Ukrainian drone surveillance. Because awaiting them are experienced and battle-hardened Ukrainian units like the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade "Rubizh":
Russia deploys special forces to Pokrovsk front, replacing less experienced troops
The situation in the Pokrovsk direction is extremely tense. Russian forces have replaced their less experienced personnel with special forces units equipped with modern gear and weapons. They are attempting to break through into the inter-positional space, using dense fog and a significant amount of heavy equipment to create chaos in the defense lines
Volodymyr Cherniak, an officer of the Rubizh Brigade, stated this on Espreso TV.
If previously the Russian troops used absolute marginals, mobilized from among those who served time in Russian prisons, for one-time assault actions, now we have started to notice a large number of Russian special forces units that have normal equipment and weapons,"
global.espreso.tv/…
The Russian Special Forces of today are not what they used to be or were in the run up to the full Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian special forces, collectively known as Spetsnaz, are a broad category for elite units across different branches of the military and intelligence agencies, including the military's Special Operations Command (SSO), the GRU's Spetsnaz brigades, the FSB’s Alpha and Vympel groups, and the National Guards OMON units(who infamously sided with Prigozhin’s rebellion in Rostov). Their roles range from ground and naval reconnaissance and sabotage to counter-terrorism, direct action, and political warfare.
Indications are that Russia's special forces have been severely impacted, with some reports indicating heavy losses, the near-total destruction of at least one brigade, and concerns about the long-term ability to reconstitute these forces. It’s core has been decimated and hollowed out in the course of the war, especially at the very beginning, according to U.S. Congressional reports:
Pentagon leaks: Russian special forces decimated by Ukraine war
Russia’s war on Ukraine has taken a major toll on its special forces after their heavy deployment to the front lines with skilled commandos suffering a high number of casualties, leaked US military documents show.
The over reliance by Russian commanders on the “spetsnaz” special operation units led to speculation by US officials that it will take Moscow several years to rebuild.
www.aljazeera.com/...
On the Ukrainian side the Russian “Special Forces” will be facing units like the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade "Rubizh" established in 2016 as an elite unit trained and organized under NATO standards and now nominally part of the 2nd Khartia Corps in honor of Hero of Ukraine, Serhii "Rubizh" Mykhalchuk. They have been in many of the hottest battles ... from pre-invasion battles at Stanytsia Luhanska, and Mariupol. Then the bloody battle of Svitlodarsk Bulge, the defense of Kyiv and Kyiv oblast. And again in Luhansk oblast at the battles for Trokhizbenka, Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, and Lysychansk. They were also part of the highly successful 2022 Kharkiv “Thunder Run” counteroffensive. They then rolled into Donetsk for the battles for Bakhmut. Lyman. Siversk and now Pokrovsk.
Source: https://censor.net/en/r3554446
None of this is an under-estimation of the dangerous and difficult situation Ukraine faces at Pokrovsk. Or what these Russian units will bring against Pokrovsk. Far from it. The Russians will do everything to capture Pokrovsk especially since the political pressures on the Russian high command are increasing with every daily media performance/pronouncement from Putin:
“it should not be forgotten that the Russian forces have taken this direction quite seriously. They have already violated some orders of their military-political command regarding the capture of certain settlements by certain dates. And now they are trying with all their might to correct these shortcomings,”
global.espreso.tv/...
Could the fact that Ukraine has rolled several of its most experienced and battle-hardened units on to the Pokrovsky Line be playing a role in the inability of Russia’s reported massed host of 170,000 soldiers to capture Pokrovsk to date? Russia may send its “best” into the hot crucible that is Pokrovsk in its desperate effort to capture it. But ADAPTIVE INDOMITABLE UKRAINE will continue to contain the Russian army's advances, as Volodymyr Cherniak, officer of the Rubizh Brigade, has said.
SLAVA UKRAINI ! PEREMOHA(Victory) !!
