Events in Donbas related to the armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine vividly demonstrated the fallacy of the Ukrainian army reduction policy. As a result, the situation had to be corrected immediately and the Armed Forces should have been increased. It is much more difficult to fulfill in the terms of warfare than in peacetime, but the command of the national defense ministry and of the General Staff handled this complicated task. Consequently, new organic military units, many of which were formed at the front and are now rightly considered to be "born by war" appeared in all the armed services of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

One of these military units is the 31st separate reconnaissance battalion of "South" the operational command, which has recently celebrated its first anniversary since the day of the establishment. This military unit, which consists mostly of the volunteers, has passed its battle route through roads of Donbas, liberating our towns from invaders and firmly defending the borders of Ukraine at the Mariupol direction.

People with courageous and passionate hearts, who experienced the "hottest points" of the south of Donetsk oblast serve within the unit. They liberated from insurgents the towns of Shyrokyne, Pavlopil, Pyschevyk. They liberated, rejoiced their success and victories, as well as experienced pain of losses related with the death of comrades-in-arms. The names of sergeant Volodymyr Myloserdov, senior soldier Andrii Nazarenko, soldiers Stanislav Ryzhov, Artem Nosenko and Roman Vasylenko who honestly performed their duty in the East of Ukraine, have not been frightened with the enemy bullets, but, unfortunately, haven't returned from Donbas, will always be in the memory of the scouts.

Warriors of the 131st sep recon bn are again at the forefront today. They continue to perform patrolling of the front sections, block the passageways of the militants' subversive reconnaissance groups and demine the areas. Significantly, a large number of the scouts are natives of Donetsk oblast. For example, a girl with the call sign "Lysytsia" ("Fox"), who received a state award for saving life of the wounded comrade-in-arm on the battlefield in the area of the antiterrorist operation, is from here. Or a warrior with the call sign "Viking", he's also from Donbas. He is from the village of Shyrokyne, participated in its liberation from the militants and, with the pain in his heart, remembers how war destroyed his own home.

There are a lot of them there, in the battalion. They are honest and brave people loving their country. They came from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, central and western Ukraine, from its east and south, but in the evil hour for the Fatherland, they are united with one important purpose – to protect their homeland from the pro-Russian mercenaries and to prevent the advance of war to other regions of Ukraine.

During participation in ATO, dozens of the recon battalion warriors were awarded orders and medals for their performance of service duty during the operations on the frontline and deep in the enemy's rear. In February of the current year, the same scouts were among the first to enter Shyrokyne and began to perform demining of the territory, which has just been left by militants.

Perhaps, one year in peacetime is a short period of time. But at war, everything is measured differently. Live in tents, dugouts and trenches for so long, fight and hear the explosions of shells ... No, it's a long period of time, this is the time which sometimes seems like eternity and which the personnel of 131st separate recon bn honorably withstood, celebrating the first anniversary since the day of its establishment. This date symbolizes a feat for the sake of life and peace of the dozens of brave scouts and true patriots of Ukraine!