384. Hubris at the Gates: The Fall of Russia's Elite

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In this special on-the-ground edition of Battleground Special Forces, Saul David and Julius Strauss travel to the outskirts of Kharkiv and Kyiv to examine the catastrophic opening hours of the 2022 Russian invasion.

Through eyewitness accounts and visits to the sites of intense urban combat, they reconstruct how Russia’s most elite units—the GRU-trained Spetsnaz and the VDV Airborne—faced fierce resistance that derailed the Kremlin’s "two-day" victory plan.  

This episode features:

• The Siege of School 134: A detailed look at the 13-hour gun battle in Kharkiv where dozens of elite Spetsnaz soldiers made a final, hubristic stand before the building was destroyed by a gas explosion.  

• The Battle for Hostomel (Antonov) Airport: The strategic "linchpin" operation involving helicopter assaults and a desperate back-and-forth struggle for the gateway to Kyiv.  

• The Human Cost in Bucha: A somber visit to the Bucha cemetery, where the rows of civilian victims bear witness to the 32-day Russian occupation.  

Join Saul and Julius as they explore the "battlefield detritus" and the layers of history in a region still caught between recovery and the ongoing realities of war.  

Julius Strauss writes the blog Back from the Front and also owns and runs Wild Bear Lodge, a bear-viewing lodge, in Canada. Here are the hyperlinks:

Substack: https://backfromthefront.substack.com/

Wild Bear Lodge: https://wildbearlodge.ca/

Join the Conversation: If you have a question about the war in Ukraine or any of the conflicts we cover, email us at [email protected]

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Producer: James Hodgson

A Goalhanger Podcast

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