A soldier of the Russian Armed Forces, who was awarded the badge "For Assault," shared his memories

Soldiers taking part in a special military operation (SVO) have begun to be awarded a new distinctive badge of the Russian Armed Forces (AF) — "For the Assault". It was established in May 2025 to celebrate the military participants in particularly dangerous attacks.

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Sergey with the call sign Beard, a flame thrower of the 1st Slavic Brigade of the 51st Donetsk Army of the Southern Military District, received this badge of distinction as one of the first during the Victory Day Parade training. On May 9, he marched through Red Square as part of the parade squad of the participants of his military.

"At first, I didn't understand why I got this badge. Then I remembered the early days of the SVO, when such actions were not yet called an assault. At that moment, everyone was storming. Probably, they were awarded in honor of this," he told Izvestia.

Boroda took part in the storming of the former disengagement area on the Petrovskoye—Bogdanovka line in the DPR, where his brigade fought.

Sergey joined the army of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in 2018: on May 10 he joined the 1st Slavic Brigade, and on May 18 he was already in the ranks. He met the beginning of his life in the village of Petrovskoye.

"As a separate flame-throwing unit, we were dispersed into battalions by strike groups. Each squad moved out separately, and then we converged on a certain line, and it became a surprise for the enemy," he shared.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

They noticed the difference: the fighters told why they received the "For Assault" badge