The 92nd Assault Brigade, Part 1

Field insignia of the 92nd.
The Ukrainian army has undergone a significant transformation since the country regained independence: from the remnants of a Soviet structure, to powerful units that have been repelling Russian armed aggression for over 10 years. Soldiers have strengthened their might in battles, trained with Western colleagues, and continue to do so today.
One of the leading units, especially during the full-scale invasion by Russia, is the 92nd Assault Brigade named after Kozak Otaman Ivan Sirko. In this special documentary project "Units of Victory," we talk about the brigade’s combat achievements and the fiercest battles.
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Profile of the 92nd Assault Brigade named after Kozak Otaman Ivan Sirko

• Branch: Ground Forces
• Type: Mechanized Infantry
• Year of Formation: 2000
• Base Location: Village of Kluhyno-Bashkyrivka, Slobozhanshchyna
• Command: Operational Command "East"
• Anthem: Performed by the band "Tin Sontsya" (leader — Serhii Vasyliuk, who currently serves in the 130th Reconnaissance Battalion of the Territorial Defense Forces).
• Symbol: The emblem features crossed stylized muskets of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (yanycharky) over the palisade of the Cossack Sich on a green background.
• Motto: "Honor for us, glory to Ukraine!"
• Social Media: Facebook, Instagram (links will be provided in the comments!)

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History of the Brigade's Formation and Early Combat Encounters
The 92nd Brigade was formed on the basis of the 6th Division of the National Guard of Ukraine, which had been part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 1999 and was called the 6th Mechanized Division. In 2000, the then-President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, approved the creation of a new unit—the 92nd Mechanized Ropsha Brigade of the Orders of the October Revolution and the Red Banner. Thus, this year is considered the founding year of the 92nd Assault Brigade (92 OShBr).
The unit's name was changed in 2015 when the Ukrainian army began the process of decommunization. The brigade became the 92nd Mechanized Brigade. The honorary name—named after Kozak’s Otaman Ivan Sirko—was granted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in 2019.
The Brigade maintains close connection to the Kozaks and the Zaporozhian Sich as part of Ukrainian combat tradition. For example, the sleeve emblem features the muskets of the Zaporozhian Kozaks — yanycharky. These were commonly used among the Kozaks of Slobozhanshchyna—the region where the 92nd Brigade was formed and is based, and which Brigade’s defended in 2022 during the Kharkiv counteroffensive. During these events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Brigade's soldiers demonstrated their offensive capabilities, leading to the unit's designation changing from mechanized to assault in August 2023.
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In 2011, the 92nd Brigade, which was then preparing to protect state facilities during "Euro 2012" in Donetsk, faced significant reductions by the government and was slated for disbandment by 2015. However, the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the onset of Russian aggression in the East re-drew these plans. The Brigade's soldiers were able to demonstrate their effectiveness: in 2014, they participated in the attempt to break the encirclement of troops at Ilovaisk, fought in the areas around Stanytsia Luhanska, Shchastia, and along the Bakhmutka river. In 2015, the 92nd Brigade engaged in battle and captured two soldiers from the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and recaptured the town of Shchastia.
Since 2020, the Brigade has been led by Colonel Pavlo Fedosenko. From 2014 to 2015, he served in the volunteer battalion "Kryvbas," which was formed in response to Russian aggression by the residents of Kryvyi Rih. Pavlo participated in the battles of Ilovaisk and Debaltseve. He continued his military career in the 54th Mechanized Brigade, and later in the 92nd Assault Brigade (92 OShBr). The commander values the unit's soldiers for their cohesive work:

"This is a powerful Brigade with principles and traditions. Therefore, it was very easy to command this Brigade; there was no need to change or break any foundations. It was just a matter of leading and managing."

For Pavlo Fedosenko, it is important to be close to the personnel, understand the situation, and know what is happening on the front lines; otherwise, he says, he cannot make decisions. This has not changed since the Brigade was granted assault status. On the contrary, according to the commander, it adds to the responsibility as well as the prestige:

"First of all, it is prestigious for every warrior to be considered an assault soldier [...] Secondly, we are always at the forefront. Thirdly, we are at the spearhead of attacks. We are more often on the offensive than on the defensive. [...] Every warrior is proud to be an assault soldier."

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The Start of the Full-Scale Invasion: The Defense of Kharkiv
In 2022, the Brigade faced the Russian offensive along the entire border line in the Slobozhanshchyna and Donetsk regions. The invasion was not a surprise to them; the soldiers had been preparing for months, creating the illusion of troop deployments for the enemy. They also improved the level of training for their personnel: in November 2021, infantry and officers participated in the Combined Resolve XVI Exercises in Germany as part of an American battalion.
February 24, 2022, was more tumultuous for the 92nd Assault Brigade (92 OShBr) than anticipated, despite their readiness for enemy actions. They had to constantly relocate and establish new positions. According to the commander of the tank battalion, Oleksandr (call sign Phoenix), the start of the full-scale invasion felt like a movie:

"We were just near the military camp, standing in a grove. The funny thing was, we were near the RAA (Rocket and Artillery Armament) depots where ammunition is stored. We were essentially sitting on a powder keg. [...] We were lying in a tent, sleeping. One of our guys came in. At that time we already heard some 'bangs.' And we were like, 'Is it like fireworks.' It was something unclear, completely incomprehensible. He turned on the light, looked at all of us, and we were already lifting our heads, realizing something was happening. He said, 'Guys, this is no f’ fireworks.'"

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The military Brigades knew their objectives and had prepared defensive positions, but they couldn't occupy every one of them in time. The enemy advanced in a wide strip along the entire border, following military manuals to the letter. Artillery Brigade Commander Andrii recalls:

"At first, the enemy's artillery operated strictly by the book. They would bombard areas exactly as the manuals said, covering hectares with hundreds of shells, without discerning specific targets. I think they started the war using Soviet Union methods, as written in their combat regulations, showing no initiative, sparing no ammunition. They didn’t care about their own units or people, standing in a line. In the first week, they didn’t even try to hide. But I realized that when the Russians understood they were taking losses, they also wanted to live. [...] Something awakened in them, and they started to hide."

Brigade Commander Pavlo Fedosenko estimates that the initial force ratio in the Kharkiv direction was approximately 1:10 in favor of the occupiers. Ukrainian defenses had significant gaps that the Russians could have exploited if they had wanted to. Commander of the 4th Assault Battalion Petro was surprised that the enemy did not take advantage of this. The opponent moved as systematically matching the organized defense.
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One of the reasons for this could have been that the Russian soldiers genuinely believed they would be greeted in Kharkiv with flowers and happy cheers. As a result, they often did not plan their logistics carefully, losing equipment due to a lack of fuel and facing food shortages. Additionally, Ukrainian soldiers were not merely retreating; they were also managing to strike the enemy, engage in battles, and complicate the advancement of Russian columns as much as they could. The Brigade's artillery units constantly fired at the enemy, day and night. Commander of the Rocket Artillery Battery, Oleksii, with his division, struck Russian forces near the village of Pechenihy, close to Chuhuiv, on the first day. He and his mates were near the Pechenihy dam when they learned from intelligence that the enemy had once again set up pontoons and started crossing in columns. The artillerymen then opened fire.

"At that time, we weren't sure about the results of our fire. [...] We fired, and I heard the shells falling, a few seconds later I heard explosions, and I heard the detonation of ammunition. I understood then that it was 100% hitting enemy ammunition, not residential houses or fields. I realized we were doing something significant. Within the first 24 hours, I understood we had hit very well. A few days later, it became clear that our Division alone had destroyed three enemy columns. These were not just 10 vehicles each; they were kilometer-long columns."

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The 92nd Assault Brigade regrouped near Kharkiv and, together with other units, maintained the defense. Sometimes, clashes with the Russian army occurred within the city itself — the enemy managed to break through from the outskirts only once (they took positions on the ring road around the city). For example, soldiers from the Brigade were among those who fought against special forces in Kharkiv Specialized School No. 134 on February 27.
One of the key operations, according to the soldiers of the 92 Brigade, was the assault on the village of Mala Rohan, approximately 22 kilometers from Kharkiv. Lieutenant Colonel Oleh (callsign Barracuda) recalls that they faced well-prepared and equipped Russian troops. The enemy had heavy flamethrower systems (known in Russian as TOS) with thermobaric rockets that disperse an explosive substance which mixes with the air and detonates, as well as Nona towed artillery installations. According to Oleh, the Russian soldiers managed to establish a foothold in a wooded area between the road and Mala Rohan, where they held out for quite some time before retreating after a battle.
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However, this assault was pivotal, demonstrating to both the soldiers of the 92nd Brigade and the Russians that Ukrainians could and would not only defend but also go on the offensive. Brigade Commander Pavlo Fedosenko emphasized:

"The entire war is difficult. It was harder in the early days to break the enemy. Transitioning to a counteroffensive, moving on to Mala Rohan—these were the most challenging moments. When we had to overcome, when we had to rise, stand up, and move forward. After we went forward, we realized that we were capable, that the enemy was not as terrifying and strong as portrayed. After this, we continue to move forward and will keep advancing until victory."

During the defense of Kharkiv, the 92nd Brigade captured its first prisoners. Commander of the 4th Assault Battalion Petro said:

"Our first prisoners turned out not to be Russians, but our Ukrainians from the occupied territories. These were 18-20-year-old guys from Makiivka, Donetsk, and Yasynuvata. Students. We talked to them about how just yesterday they could travel anywhere across Europe. Their parents came to visit them from Europe. [...] And all of this ceased to exist in an instant."

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He was most surprised by the number of Ukrainians recruited into the ranks of the Russian Federation. Among the Russian prisoners, there were both experienced soldiers and newly mobilized ones. They all had a common explanation for their presence in another country's territory. According to the Brigade Commander Pavlo Fedosenko, all the captured Russians claimed they were on exercises and didn't know where they were going.
In those early days, the main thing was for Kharkiv to be defended. Major Oleksandr (callsign Skat), Commander of the 22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion, believes that it helped significantly that most of the Brigade's soldiers were from Slobozhanshchyna. They understood they were defending their own land:

"Nobody wanted, nobody, nobody even had the thought to abandon Kharkiv, to retreat somewhere, to leave."

According to Pavlo Fedosenko, the successful defense of Kharkiv was also possible thanks to unity. Soldiers from different Brigades and units worked together, supported by police, territorial defense, and volunteers who promptly responded to requests, while civilians provided situational updates:

"Everyone fought. Everyone who could hold a weapon. Those who couldn't hold a weapon—the phones were 'red hot.' People helped, called: 'The enemy is there, we see them there, we see them there.' And not just from Kharkiv, from the entire region. 'There’s a column, there’s something'—[they told us]. Accordingly, everything was promptly responded to, processed, and fire damage was inflicted."

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Join us later in the week for Part 2!
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The 819th day of a nine year invasion that has been going on for centuries.
One day closer to victory.

🇺🇦 HEROYAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦

So, I made a post recently about me thinking Mahito is underrated and if I should make a post on my personal scaling for him and I got a very positive response on that post, so here I am to make my personal scaling of Mahito and why I think he is a solid contender to be inside the top 10 of the verse even after so many time since his departure on the story.
So, there are a total of 5 main categories one needs to touch when scaling a character: strength, durability/resistence, speed, intelligence and abilities. I will tackle all of them in 1 or more paragrapths, having this explained let me begin:
How strong is Mahito?
First category and easiest to answer, how strong is Mahito? Well, for starters lets break a misconception here, Mahito is most definetly NOT relative to Yuji and Todo in most of his stats, he scales much higher and strength is not different. Going for the first image and feat of strength now Mahito is able to knock Ultimate Mechamaru with a punch, Kokichi points out that if he takes more hits like that Mahito will break through Mechamaru's armor, which he later does in the fight, breaking into Mechamaru's cabin with another punch. This alone should already put Mahito's strength above Shibuya Yuji's as his best feat of strength in the whole Shibuya arc is be able to throw a car at Jiro on the second image which quite less impressive than knocking a giant armored Mechamaru and breaking in with 2 hits.
Third image, Mahito casually sent Yuji flying with a punch and said that if he "put his back into it a little more" he would have splitted Yuji's skull, implying that he didnt straight-up one-shotted Yuji bcs he wasnt trying much, its also good to remember that Mahito had a duplicate when this happened which means Mahito was weaker by an unknown ammount, arguably not much tho considering his duplicate was so weak that Nobara could fight against it for a bit.
Fourth and fifth image Mahito also scales above his Polymorphic Soul Isomer, a transfigured human so strong that not only punched Todo through a building but made him ricochet both on the ceiling and the ground multiple times, Mahito not only should scale above him since he is the one that created PSI(Polymorphic Soul Isomer) but because he directly did way more damage to Todo with his black flash, now, you might say that this is an outlier since black flashes are way more powerful than a normal punch, and I would agree with you... If It wasnt by the fact that Todo used all his cursed energy to reinforce the place that Mahito would hit with black flash while he didnt reinforced himself at all when he received the attack from PSI, so Mahito's BF did way more damage than PSI punch even if Todo used all his cursed energy to defend against the first one and none against the second one, which should mean regular punch from Mahito > PSI punch.
Sixth and last image to scale his physical strength and the most impressive feat, final form Mahito created a huge crater by simply slamming Yuji against the ground. Now this feat is crazy, ppl dont seem to grasp how immense this crater is, but this image showcases well how enormous this crater is, as the seemingly small pipes on the right are actually gigantic when the page zooms on Mahito and Yuji, Mahito height on his regular form is 1,85 meters according to the fanbook but ISBODK Mahito is a bit taller so I put his height at approximately 2 meters, comparing Mahito's height with that part of the pipe behind him and using it to calc the size of the crater I came to the conclusion that this crater is AT LEAST 20 meters deep and have 30 meters of diameter, Mahito slammed Yuji through 20 meters of concrete and earth/stone and created a crater with the diamater of 30 meters, I kid you not that in terms of pure showcase of strength this is only behind Yuki punching Kenjaku thought the Sunyata barrier, no one aside from Sukuna, Gojo and Yuki have a better feat of strength, not Yuji, not Toji, not Maki, not Hakari, not Kashimo, not Ishigori, no one other than the 3 characters I mentioned have a better showcasing of strength than Mahito and he was already operating bellow 40% of his strength, perhaps even bellow 10% considering just prior to this he got hit by a black flash from Yuji on the face right after using his domain (talking about Yuji, I have no idea how this man survived this, he was probably operating at 1% or lower after he got hit by this ngl.)
Well, now that I think I covered all the relevant points about Mahito's strength I think I can go for the next point:
How durable/resistant is Mahito?
When it comes to durability Mahito is also a beast and we dont even need to go far to understand why.
Mahito is directly stated to be more durable than Choso's armor as we can see on the eight image, the same armor that greatly reduced the damage Choso would receive from Sukuna's black flash on nineth image, is good to also remember that earlier Choso got easily impaled by Sukuna's bare hands, so the fact his black flash didnt completely pierced through Choso's body shows how much Choso's armor mitigated the damage he would receive, Choso's armor also scales above Hanami's durability which is regarded as one of the most durable characters of the whole verse, now you might think: "But this is post training, Choso's armor is likely more durable." But I think thats unlikely, Sukuna comments on the progress of everyone he notices progressed such as Higuruma, Yuji and Yuta but he never does any comment regarding Choso's techniques, not a single comment on how piercing blood seemed faster than the last time or his armor being toughter than before, so it should be safe to assume that Choso progressed as a sorcerer by learning RCT and simple domain, but his blood manipulation techniques didnt got any better than they were.
Even when it comes to actual damage to his soul directly Mahito is also pretty tanky, he took a resonance from Nobara that directly harmed his soul, got a combo from Yuji for 4 pages straight without being able to move or reinforce himself with CE, got his clone destroyed, received a black flash from Yuji then received another black flash from Yuji on the face right after using his domain and then still survived a black flash where Yuji himself stated he would put all his cursed energy into It. So even Mahito's soul is very durable and resistant, and the durability of Mahito's soul also increases with the durability of Mahito's body taking into consideration that Yuji's normal punches did 0 damage to Mahito's soul after he transformed into ISBODK.
With the scaling of Choso's blood armor and ISBODK scaling above it I think its easy to say Mahito is also one of the most durable characters of the verse, around Ishigori or base Rika levels of durability, personally I think he is slightly more durable than them. Up to the next topic!
How fast is Mahito?
Now, this is a topic many people say Mahito is greatly outclassed, but lets see what he can put on the table here!
Mahito can outrun, outmaneuver and dodge Mechamaru's Pigeon Viola while the same also tries to punch him on image 10, that should scale dead even with Yuta dodging multiple smaller granite blasts on page 11.
Mahito was also able to dodge a point blank Ultra Cannon with only a burn on a part of his face.
Mahito is also the only one among the disaster curses that actually dodges a physical attack from Gojo, besides him all of them get punched, kicked or grabbed when Gojo tries to do so.
There are more feats of reaction speed from Mahito but those you will see soon in another category, whats important to know is that Mahito should have a reaction speed and movement speed compared to base Sendai Yuta before the 200% amp, which means that at his final form Mahito should have a movement speed and reaction speed twice as fast, very good, but it isnt absurd when compared to the top tiers of the verse. Next category.
How smart is Mahito?
Mahito is one of the smartest characters of the verse, he is a quick learner, creative and with very high adaptability, one of the best showing of this is how quickly Mahito catches on and adapts to boogie woogie, a technique that he himself states that its disorienting even when you know how it works, but through the fight he correctly guessed when and with who Todo is going to swap him with, we can see that on images 14, where despite Todo swapping places with Mahito, Mahito is the one that ends up catching onto it and hitting both Todo and Yuji, then we have page 15, where despite getting swapped with Yuji, Mahito is still one step ahead and duplicates himself so he won't get damaged and page 16 where Todo swaps Mahito's place twice in a row but Mahito can still see it coming and blocks Yuji when Todo swaps him with his clone(all of this are both feats of adaptability and reaction speed). We also see how much of a quick learner Mahito is when he copies Gojo's move of expanding the domain for 0.2 seconds on page 17 and this was the third time Mahito ever expanded his domain on his LIFE even Megumi who is also deemed as a genious throughout the series isnt that smart and fast to learn(Mahito's 0.2 domain is also extremely fast, when the same move was used by Gojo It caught Mahito, Jogo and Choso before they could react and Jogo could have used domain amplification to protect himself from UV, so its just a matter of very few characters having enough reaction speed to clash against or protect themselves). Creativity wise you can just use any time Mahito uses idle transfiguration as an example, really, I could spend the whole day talking about It. So another time, Mahito is again among the very best of the verse when it comes to his attributes. Last category.
How powerful are Mahito's abilities?*
This one should be a category I shouldnt spend much time on, If there's something everyone agrees is that idle transfiguration is one of the most powerful techniques of the verse, It makes Mahito virtually invulnerable to any kind of damage that doesn't affect his soul as he himself said multiple times as we can see on image 18 for example and that by itself is already a huge problem on his base form, but on his final form Mahito is top 5 most durable characters of the verse, give him invulnerability on top of that makes Mahito already invincible for most characters of the series, If that wasnt enough be aware that as a disaster curse Mahito's cursed energy reserves are massive, the same used his cursed technique for the whole night, transfigured way more than 1000 humans, kept changing his body, used other techniques like soul multiplicity and used his stock of transfigured humans till the very end, attack him until he runs out of cursed energy isnt reliable at all, you will surely die first most of the time. Talking about transfigured humans, those are the main stock for mahito to use his other techniques, like body repel and Polymorphic Soul Isomer and at his peak on Shibuya Mahito had 1000 of them under his direct control on the subway station, there's an argument to be made that all the transfigured humans on the entirety of Shibuya were under Mahito's control, and that would give him a near endless stock of transfigured humans for him to use as he wish, but even without going for this line of thinking Mahito still had many transfigured humans stocked inside him, allowing him to create many Polymorphic Soul Isomers, use body repel many times, and use his transfigured humans on the most unique ways such as using them as a machine gun, setting up traps, creating walls to make the opponent lose his sight and much more. Lasts things I want to adress about idle transfiguration is some arguments people use against Mahito and the technique, the first one and easiest to dismiss is that Mahito couldnt one tap Nanami and that means Mahito would need way more hits against stronger characters, making the technique lose its effectiveness, for one to understand this is a complete misconception look no further than Mahito vs Mechamaru, a grade 1 sorcerer much, much more powerful than Nanami who had temporary special grade sorcerer output/firepower and still got one tapped by Mahito, the reason why Mahito didnt killed Nanami with one touch before is because at that time Mahito was way weaker than he is at Shibuya, he barely knew how to use his technique and didnt even had a domain yet, he got exponentially more powerful between his first fight with Nanami and his fight with Mechamaru and 200% more powerful than that on his strongest state at Shibuya, so idle transfiguration is indeed extremely lethal even for extremely powerful sorcerers, the other argument against Mahito that some people use is that reincarnated sorcerers can hurt Mahito's soul, and that isnt true and was pratically confirmed on image 19 where we have a flashback to Yuji and Choso talking about souls and how Yuji and Sukuna are exceptions for being able to interact with would like they do because Choso can't even feel the soul of his vessel and Yuji says that thats because of the massive gap of cursed energy between the cursed object and the vessel, meaning that Choso and almost all the reincarnated sorcerers can't interact with the soul and cannot hurt Mahito's soul because of that. And again, Mahito have one of the most powerful and versatile abilities of the verse.
Now, does it even make sense for Mahito to actually be this powerful? Well, according to Gege's own opinion on image 20, yes, considering that he said Kenjaku, the widely regarded as third strongest character of the verse, would have a really hard time on a fight against Mahito (as well as Jogo.). So seriously guys, what are you all waiting to start putting Mahito on your top 10? One of the strongest characters on the series, one of the most durable on the series, speed good enough to keep up with anyone in the series that isnt Sukuna and Gojo, one of the smartest on the series and with one of the most powerful abilities on the series, Mahito is an all around beast who deserves recognition for his power, stats and brains.
And with this I end my analysis, thank you for everyone that read this until the very end and above all I hope this comment section is respectful because I spent quite a lot of time on this research and it mentally tired me lol.