President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during a working trip to the Oleksandrivka direction on May 8, visited the command post of the 31st Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Lieutenant General Leonid Stupnytsky.
Points of attention
- President Zelenskyy visited the command post of the 31st Motorized Rifle Brigade at the front, awarding defenders with orders and offering words of support.
- The brigade is conducting defensive operations in the Oleksandrivka direction, facing continuous enemy assault despite the declared ceasefire.
Zelenskyy arrived at the front: what is known
At the command post of the 31st Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Lieutenant General Leonid Stupnytsky, President Volodymyr Zelensky, together with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky, met with the unit's soldiers. The 31st Separate Mechanized Brigade is conducting defensive operations in the Oleksandrivka direction, which is at the junction of Donetsk, Dnipro, and Zaporizhia regions.
Syrsky reported to the Head of State that despite the declared ceasefire, the enemy has not reduced its assault operations. The President also heard a report from brigade commander Ivan Shalamaga on the operational situation in the defense zone of the 31st Motorized Rifle Brigade, interaction with adjacent units that are carrying out counteroffensive operations in this direction and pushing the enemy back to the borders of the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Zelenskyy thanked the defenders for their service and awarded them with the Orders of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 3rd degree and "For Courage", 2nd–3rd degrees.
I want to thank you on this day and wish you victory in our war. Thank you for protecting Ukraine, our sovereignty. I am sure that we have defeated one Nazism, we will defeat another. I wish health to your relatives and friends. Hold on, take care of yourself. Today, the defense of our state is on your shoulders.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
He also discussed with the battalion and company commanders the features of the service of foreigners in the brigade, their recruitment, training and integration. In addition, the development of the NRC direction was discussed in detail. The soldiers of the 31st Motorized Rifle Brigade presented their own distributed logistics system using small, cheap UAVs, which allows reducing the level of material losses. In particular, 60% of the unit's logistics are carried out by drones.
