“The Russians won’t get into Barvinkove”: An officer from the “Skelya” Regiment spoke about meeting the commander and his return to the front lines after being wounded
9 July 17:06
YOUTUBE
Mykola, an air defense officer with the “Skelya” Regiment who goes by the call sign “Accountant,” recounted how he met Commander Yuriy Garkav at the start of the full-scale invasion and why, in his words, he came to believe in the unit’s ability to stop the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region. He made these remarks in an interview with the YouTube channel
According to the soldier, in the spring of 2022, local volunteers tried on their own to hold back the advance of Russian troops toward Barvinkove. It was then that he met Yuriy Garkav, who, as Mykola recalls, proposed that they defend the town together against the occupiers.
“He told me, ‘Kolya, I really like your little town. The nature here is so beautiful; we have to do everything we can to keep those b****s from coming here. And you, since you know the area, will help us. Won’t you? If you won’t, I won’t hold you back. I know you have a family—go to them,” recalls “The Accountant.”
Mykola says that this conversation was the turning point for him, and he joined the unit to defend his hometown.
“He told me: ‘Kolya, they won’t get into Barvinkove. You don’t understand what forces we’re bringing in here,’” Mykola recalls.
Later, he says, the unit came under rocket fire in the city center. Both the commander and many soldiers were wounded. Despite this, according to the officer, Harkavyi returned to the unit within a few days.
“Three days passed, and he called—‘I’m on my way.’ That really fired me up, because I started to see what I was doing next and with whom. Just imagine—three days, and he shows up at our place, all bandaged up; they hadn’t even removed the shrapnel from his body yet, but he’d already escaped. And some of the guys ran away from the hospital with him,” Mykola recalls.
The officer also noted that the commander regularly visits units on the front lines that are carrying out complex combat missions.
“If ‘Skala’ had been there with that small unit—and there were only 26 of us at the start—and a rocket had struck where he was, he would have died; that would have been very tragic,” he concluded.
About “Skala”
The 425th Separate Assault Regiment “Skala” is one of the most famous assault units of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The unit was formed in 2022 as a volunteer mobile fire group tasked with destroying Russian military equipment and personnel, and was later expanded first into a separate battalion and then into an assault regiment.
“The Rock” specializes in assault, reconnaissance, and offensive operations and employs active defense tactics. The unit participated in the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region and in battles for Izyum, Soledar, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Vuhledar, and Robotyne, as well as in the Kupiansk, Pokrovsk, and Kramatorsk sectors. According to open sources, as of 2026, the regiment is one of the largest assault units within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The unit has been repeatedly commended for successfully carrying out complex combat missions; however, in 2026, it also found itself at the center of public attention following media reports and investigations into possible violations of servicemembers’ rights. The regiment’s command has stated its readiness to cooperate with a comprehensive investigation into these reports.
As reported by
