That gate is where Russia is pushing hardest right now. General Denys Prokopenko, who leads the defense of the sector, says three Russian armies are attacking along a front of about 30 kilometers and that his troops are outnumbered roughly six to one. Around a third of the 1,200 crews of Rubicon, Russia's elite drone unit, have been moved here to hunt Ukrainian supply runs. Last August, Russian troops broke through toward the town and briefly cut the road to Kramatorsk before Ukrainian counterattacks threw them back. Now they are trying again.
Four brigades stand in their way. This campaign is for them.
The Units
93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar"
The 93rd is named after a partisan republic that fought Soviet rule in the forests of central Ukraine from 1919 to 1922. Its soldiers were among the "cyborgs" who defended Donetsk airport in 2014, and after the full-scale invasion they held the northern part of Bakhmut against Wagner for months. Andriy Biletsky, whose corps is now running Operation Vivaldi, has named the 93rd one of the best brigades in the Ukrainian army. When Russia broke through toward Dobropillia last August, the 93rd helped retake the villages of Hruzke and Vesele, with machine-gun robots firing on Russian troops. Its "Alter Ego" unmanned systems battalion even sends robots out under fire to recover downed Vampire bomber drones. All of this runs on batteries, and batteries run out.
37th Marine Brigade
The 37th is one of Ukraine's youngest brigades. It was formed in January 2023 around a battalion of the 79th Air Assault Brigade. Its crews trained in France on AMX-10RC armored vehicles, its infantry in the United Kingdom. The Marines fought in the 2023 counteroffensive and on the Krynky bridgehead across the Dnipro, and this July, together with paratroopers of the 79th, they cleared the village of Novokhatske in western Donetsk through dense minefields. Ground drones funded by Preston's community already haul supplies for these Marines. The Marines have asked for more of them, and for Mavic drones to watch the approaches to their positions.
4th Rapid Reaction Brigade "Rubizh" (National Guard)
On February 24, 2022, the first day of the full-scale invasion, Rubizh counterattacked Russian paratroopers at Antonov Airport in Hostomel and helped stop Russia from using the airfield to fly more troops toward Kyiv. Founded in 2015 and trained to NATO standards, partly by Canadian instructors, the brigade went on to fight at Severodonetsk and Bakhmut. Today it holds positions in the Dobropillia and Pokrovsk directions under the 1st Azov Corps, and President Zelensky visited its command post in the Dobropillia sector last November. A sergeant of its Svoboda Battalion reports "a huge increase in the number of mobile groups" pushing toward the town. American readers may enjoy one detail: two of the brigade's reconnaissance platoons go by the names "Hawaiian Farmers" and "Texas Loggers."
18th Brigade "Sloviansk" (National Guard)
The 18th knows what it means to lose a home base. In May 2014, Russian-backed fighters seized the unit's headquarters in Luhansk, and its guardsmen regrouped in Kharkiv before moving to Sloviansk, whose name the unit has carried as an honorary title since 2019. Since the full-scale invasion the brigade has fought at Popasna and Severodonetsk, in the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive and at Kreminna. Now it defends the approaches to its own garrison city. When we delivered a generator to the 18th this summer, the unit was stationed in an area with barely any electricity at all.
Our Fundraising Aims
Every item on this list comes from the brigades' own requests:
- A winter's supply of drone batteries for the 93rd, to keep the eyes on the frontline continuously charged.
- Drone jammers and energy supply for the 37th Marine Brigade, to reduce logistical risks
- Lots of Starlinks for Rubizh, for positions, to put on ground-drones and relays
- Generators, power stations and detectors for the 18th Brigade "Sloviansk"
Energy appears on two of the four brigades' lists for a reason. Close to the front the power grid is long gone, and nearly everything a modern infantry position depends on, from FPV drones and Starlinks to radios and thermal sights, has to be charged from a generator or a power station in a dugout.
Ground drones matter for the same reason Rubicon is here: the most dangerous job on this front is getting to and from the positions. When one of our ground drones reached a Marine unit earlier this year, it moved 1,700 kilograms of supplies over 126 kilometers in its first two days. Every load a robot carries is a load no soldier has to drag across a drone-hunted field.
Gifts and Giveaways
For your donation, you can request the following gifts (please fill out the form via the "REQUEST YOUR PATCH/FLAG" button after your donation).
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EU donors can transfer directly to our Dutch partner charity Stichting Eyes on Ukraine (ANBI-registered). Possible tax deduction of the donation depends on your local tax laws. Proceeds go directly to UAO equipment purchases.
Delivery Photos
Our Donors
