In the first hours of a full-scale war, the Kraken special forces united in defense of the country in the Kharkiv region. Its fighters accepted and participate in the counteroffensive and liberate the occupied cities. It was the defenders from the “Kraken” who historically raised the Ukrainian flag over Balakleya, demonstrating to the whole world that sooner or later a blue-yellow one will flutter over every Ukrainian city.
Kraken has become a nightmare for the occupiers. The invaders even frightened the local residents in the occupied territories with a unit. But they met the fighters with tears of joy.
On the history of the creation of the unit, participation in the counteroffensive and defense operations in an interview with Channel 24 was told by representative of the Kraken special forces Konstantin Nemichev.
Defense from the first hours of the war and the Kraken special operation near Kharkiv
You created Kraken after the Russian invasion in March 2022. Why did you decide to create a new division within the GUR?
Six months before the war, the Russians began to bring troops to our borders. We, as war veterans, decided that we should train and pass on our experience to the civilian population.
At that time, more than 3,000 people passed through our courses. These are people who, at will, came on weekends, studied, received a knowledge base, and took courses. On February 24, when the full-scale war began, we mobilized more than 800 people from them. Officers from the Main Intelligence Directorate helped in the entire training process – they shared their experience, passed it on. The unit was created from scratch, and positions were occupied from the first hours of the war. In particular, on the Kharkov Ring Road.
What does the Kraken division do? In what special operations and in what areas have you been involved since the beginning of a full-scale war?
- The Kraken special unit participated in the defense of Kharkov, in particular Severnaya Saltovka, when the Russians broke into the regional center .
- One of the first liberation operations was in Olkhovka, then in Russkaya Lozova, Pitomnik.
- The counterattacks of the Russians were thwarted in the Donetsk region, in the village of Belogorovka. Then we thwarted the counterattack of the invaders on the Donetsk region.
- From the recent ones – a large counteroffensive, were in the direction of Balakliya. When they finished cleaning up there, the unit was transferred to Kupyansk.
- Together with other brigades of the Armed Forces, they cleaned up the second bank of Oskol in the city. We were directly involved and our guys fought in the forefront.
Kraken was created after a full-scale invasion of Russia/Photo from the unit's page
The entire regiment participated in the counteroffensive in the Kharkov region – 1.5 thousand soldiers
The counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region has already gone down in world military history. The special operation, when our defenders liberated settlements one after another, is impressive. What do you think is success?
First, success lies in planning, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny, heads of units. If there had not been such good planning, reconnaissance, and the positions of the enemy identified in advance, then there would not have been such a successful counteroffensive. Therefore, everyone did their job with distinction.
What was the most difficult thing for you, the fighters, during the counteroffensive?
Everyone understood that it had to be done. Naturally, it was hard to be there without electricity, the Internet, communications, conditions. However, everyone clenched their teeth and moved for 15 days to liberate our lands.
And how many defenders from Kraken participated in the offensive? How many fighters are in the unit in general?
Our regiment is more than one and a half thousand people. All combat units were involved in the operation.
We managed to quite quickly knock out the invaders from almost the entire Kharkiv region – about two weeks passed from the active offensive. Were the Russians not ready for such a powerful pressure from our troops?
Their mistake was that they were very relaxed. And we used it. In addition, weapons and equipment, fighters trained in friendly countries, were received. It was a collection of facts. Therefore, when we, the Armed Forces, launched an offensive, the invaders simply did not have time to understand that some brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were already in the rear, while others were storming hostile positions. They were not ready for this.
Kraken fighters raised the Ukrainian flag over Balakliya/Photo from the unit's page
Your fighters also trained abroad?
Yes, of course. We constantly send guys, and they improve their skills. First of all, for the most important thing – saving lives.
Russia no longer knows where to take people “to death”: about capturing the invaders like rats from a submarine. Did everyone manage to escape? Or was a part taken prisoner?
A lot of prisoners. Ukraine has replenished the exchange fund well. Our unit captured more than 15 Russian officers. We handed them over to the GUR. Therefore, we replenished the exchange fund in order to free our guys from captivity as well.
Kraken soldiers captured many Russian officers/Photo from the unit's page
What do captured invaders say? What kind of military is this – from what divisions, groups? Are these only Russians or were they also mobilized from the occupied territories?
We took Russians prisoner, and among them was one collaborator who worked in the so-called “military administration” of Kupyansk.< /p>
They say that they were collected from different units – there were drivers, mechanics, gunners. They were all thrown into the infantry.
Therefore, it is significant that the Russians are now in big trouble. They don't know where to take people to send them to their deaths. That's why they collect them in different units and send them here. So things are not very good for them, and then we also “spoil the mood”.
And these prisoners, are they motivated? Did they come to fight for money or by order, and simply did not want to go against their military leadership?
There are different people. There are people who were motivated by money. And there was a prisoner from Belgorod, who said that he volunteered after, according to him, “Point U” hit Belgorod.
I had to explain that “Point U” from our territory would not have shot to Belgorod. The second fact is the broken rockets that they fire at Kharkov. That is, this is the “Point U” that he thinks about. That is, this is a rocket that they fired at Kharkov, but it landed in Belgorod.
These are people deceived by propaganda, do not know what is happening and believe the information from the TV.
The tortured were thrown into the river, many were taken out: about the abuse of Russians against the locals< /h2>
Fighting here in Ukraine, are they also washed with propaganda? Do they really understand that they are shelling civilians, shooting at city centers? After all, we have seen the consequences of the terrible occupation of the Kharkiv region…
They all understand, but they get into the taste. What do we see? Dead, civilians tortured. Burials such as Izyum and Balakleya. This is an animal instinct, they are not people.
Their psyche is spoiled. Bucha, Irpen, Kharkov region, Mariupol…
We remember the cities where the most shocking consequences of the occupation were: mass graves, murdered families with small children, many civilians. Now the world is shocked by what they saw in Izyum. Was this the situation in other liberated places? Have you seen the mass graves in Balakliya and Kupyansk? Or other consequences of the Russians' crimes?
Locals said that tortured civilians were thrown under the bridge into the river. We found many basements where there were rooms for torture. Locals said that it was very difficult for people in the occupied territories, whose relatives served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Many people now do not know where. They were thrown into buses and sent to Russian territory. They took civilians prisoner, as they do.
So, they are imprisoned on the territory of Russia?
Yes. Therefore, a lot of work is still ahead to find the missing people. They could be tortured, killed, sent to Russia, or they are hiding somewhere else. There are so many people missing.
Occupiers scared the locals with the Kraken and murders
How did the locals treat you when you entered the liberated cities – both Balakleya and Kupyansk? We saw a lot of painful videos when our people greeted the military with tears, with flags.
So it was. These are sincere emotions. People were really very happy, because we actually freed them from captivity, in which they were half a year.
They breathed in fresh air when the Armed Forces entered the cities. When we entered Kupyansk, the locals even recognized us and said that it was the Kraken that frightened them. It seems that we will come to kill them because they received humanitarian aid or food. Many are very frightened by propaganda, because there is no connection, there is no light, and people are given false information.
Therefore, the locals had very sincere emotions when they saw the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Kraken fighters showed how invaders are destroyed: watch the video
It is clear that in addition to the prisoners, the manpower of the enemy, you managed to capture the equipment, weapons that the invaders threw during the flight. How large are these trophies?
Our unit has more than 30 captured vehicles. A variety of equipment, from a portable bathhouse to tanks, armored personnel carriers. A lot of things from the “Lend-Lease” of the Russian.
What is the state of this equipment?
Of course, in unsatisfactory. However, we will restore. These are armored vehicles, which means protection for our guys.
Let's beat them with their own equipment?
Well, we've been doing this for half a year now (smiles).
The Russian military themselves offer to dig trenches or clean up after themselves
On the eve of September 16, you said that in Kupyansk they forced the Russian military to clean up after themselves and they repainted the stele from the Russian tricolor in yellow and blue. Tell about this case. How did the invaders themselves react to these “tests”? Will you join them and continue to “remove” the Russification that they tried to impose on us and leave?
When the occupiers open their eyes to what they did, what they are, and not how they were told, they understand that they were deceived and used. In particular, the Russian authorities. And then they themselves take the initiative, want to help the Armed Forces, tell about their commanders, about the location of equipment, etc.
People just say: “Let's help, dig trenches or do something else.” Well, the initiative was such that they repainted the stele in blue and yellow, because at the entrance to Kupyansk it stood in the colors of the Russian flag. Therefore, we fixed this problem.
So they themselves take the initiative to fix what they have done?
Of course < em>(smiling). There are people who understand this. But there is also a percentage who do not understand what they have done and stand their ground. And there are people who really understand that they were used. Therefore, they provide maximum information about their units, other secret information, which we are very happy to receive.
Russian invaders, under the supervision of the Kraken, redrawn the stele in Ukrainian colors/Screenshots
Can Russia go to Kharkiv again? Kharkiv and which region is its main goal of protection
Can Russia try to take Kharkiv again, risk daring it? After the slap you received?
Now everything depends on us, on the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the authorities. To build fortified areas, air defense, to make the Kharkov region as secure as possible. There is a time and it needs to be done. And then they will have no chance.
We drove the occupiers out of the Kharkiv region, but they are beginning to strengthen in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And they say that Donetsk is the main direction for them. But even there ours are advancing. In which areas is Russia currently betting the most? Where does it strengthen the defense?
Of course, Donetsk and Lugansk are their main goal. They are now trying to strengthen themselves as much as possible, throwing equipment there.
However, the condition of the Russian fighters is unsatisfactory, they are suppressed, they are losing territories. They lost and understand that they will continue to throw them back. Their weapons have not been replenished for six months now, they are fighting with what they have. Unless rusty pieces of iron are brought to them from conservation. We have the opposite – every day we gain experience, weapons from friendly countries.
Every day the Ukrainian army takes a step forward. We are ready to move on. And a great example is the Kharkov offensive operation.
You remembered that the Russians are now little motivated – somewhere they are left to fend for themselves, somewhere they are not provided properly. How does this play into our hands?
If we use it correctly, it will play into our hands. Our commanders know how to do it.
There are several fortresses that the Russians will lose. Everything is ahead.
Are these fortresses in the Donbass or other temporarily occupied territories?
They are in the occupied territories – and in the Donbass, and in other directions. Everything is ahead. There are plans, everything will be. The plans are as realistic as past successful operations.
“It's encouraging”: reaction to the announcement of a “hunt” for Kraken in Russia
In Russia, they declared you ” ohtu” and even came up with a reward in the amount of supposedly 1 million rubles. How do you feel about this?
Well, it's a confession when the country we're at war with calls us “worst enemies.” Naturally, she is very angry that we are involved in the de-occupation of the Kharkov region. It was we who began to mobilize civilians there, who took up arms and began to resist. We messed up very big plans of the enemy. And both the Armed Forces and we are doing exactly what we should.
The fact that they declared us “the top 10 criminals of the Russian Federation” is, in my opinion, good. This does not stop us, does not demoralize us in any way, but encourages us. We are ready to move forward in such a way that neither the “top 10 wanted” nor anything else exists. And in general, there shouldn’t be such a country as the Russian Federation after our victory.
See the video of the unit’s special operations: watch the video
In Russia, you have the same attitude as the regiment of the defenders of Mariupol as a whole. I mean, she's afraid. Therefore, it will try in any way to discredit you with propaganda primarily for its citizens, isn't it?
Yes, we come from the Mariupol Defenders Regiment. And it's not news to us that Russia is trying to show some kind of cartoons to discredit a highly motivated unit and ready to defend our land.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine will go to every Ukrainian city and our flags will hang there
On September 8, the whole country saw a video with Kraken fighters against the background of the Ukrainian flag and with the Russian tricolor under your feet, where you announced the release of Balakleya. The video was distributed both by President Zelensky and massively by Ukrainians online. Will it be like this with every Ukrainian city?
Of course. The Armed Forces of Ukraine will enter every Ukrainian city that is still occupied. Ukrainian flags will hang there and there will be Ukrainian authorities. And there will never be any occupation again. People will already know how to survive the occupation, they will do everything possible so that everyone understands that their home is Ukraine.
How Kraken fighters liberated Ukrainian territories in the Kharkiv region: video
