It is noisy in the clearing. “Man down! Medic!” “How you doing, buddy? Can you hear me?” “Cover!” “Contact on the left!”
The grenades that explode are drill grenades. The moans of the ‘man down’ are somewhat theatrical and mixed with witty remarks like, “Be quiet—you’re unconscious! Or maybe not, you’d better be conscious!” But all the algorithms are presented as clearly and realistically as possible. Nine new brigades of the National Guard, the National Police, and the State Border Guard Service are formed to fulfill a specific mission: the liberation of the occupied territories. Offensive operations are quite different from defensive operations, so the fighters are trained accordingly. The Offensive Guard has another telling feature: people join it only of their own free will.
“The Steel Border is a unit made up of volunteer fighters,” says Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Shevtsov, deputy head of the 15th Mobile Border Guard Unit. “Experience from combat operations has shown that volunteer battalions achieve much better results, so we ran a recruitment campaign and recruited only volunteer fighters. Both civilians and soldiers who have already served in other units of the State Border Guard Service. The backbone of the unit are the fighters with combat experience. They are defenders of Azovstal and soldiers who were on active duty in Kherson and Bakhmut. These people know what they have to do and what to expect”
It’s not just about the new missions the fighters are being trained for but also about new approaches that meet the standards of NATO. According to Shevtsov, until recently, Soviet-era approaches prevailed in Ukraine, when the mission had to be accomplished at any cost.
“Now we are moving toward a completely different mindset, a different vision,” he says, “and the most important thing for us is that our soldiers stay alive and healthy. Our unit is fully staffed. Our warriors have been trained in different areas, and today we are ready to conduct missions”
The Steel Guard fighters are trained by foreign and Ukrainian instructors with solid combat experience. They are trained as members of assault forces, snipers, aerial reconnaissance operators, and artillerymen. Tactical medicine is also emphasized.
“We take time exclusively for exercises,” says Shevtsov, “because, as we know from experience, 90% of military officers die not from wounding but as a result of delayed medical assistance. For members of the assault troops, there are several training areas: storming trenches, urban warfare, mine clearing, working in pairs and groups, and ground movement. The instructors who came to us from the combat zone know what a soldier needs to save their life, and they share their experience”
Stanislav joined the army shortly after the full-scale invasion began. Earlier, he worked as a lawyer and assistant judge. Just about to retire, he also had a business making playgrounds for children. Stanislav admits that he set aside his family’s concerns after seeing the atrocities committed by the occupiers. Preserving sovereignty—”how we live and what we will leave to our children” – came to the fore.
He first fought in Bucha as a member of the Territorial Defense Forces, and in July, he joined the 94th Border Guard Unit.
“I fought in the combat zone near Vuhledar and Bakhmut,” he says. “After the rotation, I returned to the military base and saw the recruitment ad for the Steel Guard. I was one of the first members of the 94th unit to apply for a transfer to the 15th Mobile Unit”
He says that each member of his unit has their own area of responsibility and is a professional in their field. Like everyone else, he underwent additional training to improve his skills.
“I’ve been trained in almost all the skills we need to make sure our children can go to kindergarten safely. Now I try to pass those skills on to others”
He also stresses the importance of premedical care and says that misapplying a tourniquet is one of the most common mistakes made by beginners.
A young man with the call sign “Awl” hides his face before the interview begins. He is one of those who chose military service as a profession. After finishing ninth grade, he enrolled in the military lyceum and then in 2018 at the National Academy.
“The all-out war started on February 24, and on March 3, we had an early graduation ceremony,” he recalls. “I was sent to the Kharkiv border guard unit and took part in the defense of Kharkiv until September 10, when we reached the state border”
“After we reached the state border in the Kharkiv region, we stopped moving and only maintained the defense,” he says, explaining his decision to join the Steel Guard. “I wanted to get new emotions, so I applied for transfer to the Steel Guard’s assault brigade”
During drills, he helps medical and combat training instructors and learns a lot of new things from other instructors as well.
“Today, all of us, all security agencies—the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Guard Service—are performing an important task,” says Ivan Shevtsov. “We are defending our country. We all have one and the same mission: to liberate our territories and reach the 1991 borders. All who have enlisted, all military officers are working for a single cause. During combat operations, the State Border Guard Service switches to combat mode and operates on equal footing with other units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And our task is to train the fighters and launch the counteroffensive soon and liberate the occupied territories”
