Russia has transferred soldiers of the Strategic Missile Forces, operators of nuclear launchers, to the infantry for the war against Ukraine.

Russian activists assisting the newly formed unit with material support released the video with the statement.

“Today, we have re-supplied the 1st Regiment of the Strategic Missile Forces, which performs the tasks of an ordinary separate rifle regiment in the Kursk direction,” Russian activist and volunteer Vladimir Grubnik said.

He noted that the 1st Сomposite Кegiment of the Russian Armed Forces is fighting as a regular infantry unit with small arms in the form of separate battalions. The unit has not received the necessary means of communication, so volunteers have provided them with civilian Chinese radio stations.

In his opinion, the reason for their involvement is the lack of mobilization and an acute shortage of personnel in units on the front line, which forced them to “scoop up” contractors from “non-infantry” units, in particular, the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Russian Armed Forces.

Analyzing the publications of Russian activists, we can conclude that these units were formed in the late summer of this year and deployed to the combat zone.

Judging by the growing number of requests, their active involvement began in August and was initially localized in the occupied territories in the Kharkiv region. However, in September, their activity was noticed in the Kursk region.

Infantry battalions of the Strategic Missile Forces

Judging by the available information, the fighters of such units are not transferred to the ground forces but fight as part of separate battalions of the Russian Air Force, which are assigned to regiments and brigades on the front line.

A consolidated regiment can consist of one to two thousand people. However, given the state of the war and its specifics, this number may be different.

Most likely, these units do not involve specialists directly responsible for the use of nuclear weapons but rather support personnel and personnel of security companies.

The SMF’s security companies are equipped with light armored vehicles, such as the Akhmat armored personnel carrier and small arms. They also include platoons of reconnaissance UAVs and sapper units.

Militarnyi previously reported that due to similar problems, Russian troops formed a mechanized battalion from the crew of the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.