How Ukraine’s Mala Tokmachka Became Russia’s Most Embarrassing Frontline Dead End

Russian propaganda has spent nearly five years repeatedly claiming progress around Mala Tokmachka, a small village in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while Russian forces have failed to take the settlement despite more than 1,500 days of assaults, Ukrinform reported on May 19.

Mala Tokmachka, located in the Polohy district, covers only about eight square kilometers. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, it was a relatively prosperous southern Ukrainian village of around 3,000 residents, with local industry, basic infrastructure, and one of the region’s larger penitentiary facilities.

Today, fewer than 100 civilians remain, most of them elderly residents who either could not or would not evacuate.

Much of the village has been destroyed. Russian shelling burned the village council building in June 2022, and the local correctional facility was heavily damaged a month later. According to Ukrinform, nearly every surviving basement has become a shelter.

The village’s importance is tied to geography. Mala Tokmachka sits less than two kilometers from Orikhiv and roughly 37 kilometers from Zaporizhzhia. Control of the area would give Russian forces a stronger position for pressure toward the regional capital.

But the terrain has worked against them: the village is surrounded by elevated ground, while concrete structures and underground infrastructure have helped turn parts of the settlement into a defensive stronghold.

Read more

Category

War in Ukraine

Mala Tokmachka, the Tiny Ukrainian Village That Keeps Stopping Russian Forces

Apr 30, 2026 13:09

Russian forces briefly occupied Mala Tokmachka in early March 2022, but Ukrainian forces liberated it by May that year. Since then, the front line has remained roughly 1.5 to 2 kilometers from the village.

The area is currently defended by Ukraine’s 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade, part of the 10th Army Corps. A brigade press officer using the callsign “Fake” described the defenders as the “cyborgs of Mala Tokmachka,” drawing a comparison to the defenders of Donetsk airport.

One of the largest Russian assaults took place on October 20, 2025, when units of Russia’s 71st Motor Rifle Regiment attacked from the direction of Verbove and Novoprokopivka with up to two motor rifle companies and around 26 armored vehicles, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and Tigr vehicles.

The result, according to Ukrainian data cited by Ukrinform, was 21 destroyed vehicles and more than 30 Russian troops killed.

Russia’s broader losses in attempts to seize Mala Tokmachka have reportedly exceeded 2,000 personnel.

The information war around the village has become almost as notable as the fighting itself. For months, Russian military bloggers and official channels repeatedly claimed “successes” near Orikhiv, often announcing the capture of the same parts of Mala Tokmachka again and again.

In November 2025, Russia’s defense minister Andrei Belousov claimed the village had been “fully liberated,” calling it a major step toward Moscow’s war goals.

Days later, Russian sources themselves again reported “heavy fighting” near Mala Tokmachka, effectively contradicting their own officials.

The contradiction turned the village into a meme online. “Whoever controls Mala Tokmachka controls the world” became one of the jokes circulating across social media.

Some Russian universities reportedly even threatened students with expulsion for publicly mocking the situation, according to Ukrinform.

The scale of the fight has also drawn comparisons with historic sieges. As of May 2026, the defense of Mala Tokmachka has lasted more than 1,500 days. Carthage held out against Rome for around 1,100 days. The Great Siege of Gibraltar lasted about 1,320 days. Mala Tokmachka has outlasted both.

Russian propagandist Alexander Vershinin once compared the village to “something like Troy, or, in more recent times, Verdun.”

Earlier, Ukraine’s military intelligence special forces said they are continuing to clear the city of Stepnohirsk on the Zaporizhzhia front after a series of coordinated assault operations pushed Russian troops out of fortified positions and brought key locations under Ukrainian control.

Truth is Under Attack

We report the war as it unfolds directly from the people and places most affected by it. Your support helps us bring these stories to the world.

SUPPORT