Syrskyi: Assault Troops are Created in Response to New Russian Tactics

The assault troops will become a tool for breaking through the defense and a mobile reserve in response to the new tactics of the invaders’ combat operations.

Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told Militarnyi at a press conference.

The key difference between the newly created troops and the Air Assault Troops is the tasks assigned to their units on the battlefield.

“The Air Assault Troops are elite infantry that can attack, defend and raid. And assault units are rapid response units. They operate where it is most difficult, do not have fixed defense lines and are called upon to break through the enemy’s first line,” explained the Commander-in-Chief.

He notes that since the beginning of the summer there has been a change in the tactics of the enemy, which has finally moved away from the tactics of large mechanized breakthroughs and began to actively use small assault groups of 4-6 soldiers, trying to penetrate as deeply as possible into the defense of Ukrainian forces and gain a foothold there.

The change in the nature of combat operations, which the commander-in-chief called ‘the tactics of a thousand cuts,’ is intended to stretch the few Ukrainian reserves over a wide section of the front and thus weaken the front in order to penetrate the Ukrainian defenders in one blow.

“In fact, this situation has been observed in the Dobropillia sector, where the enemy, using the 8th and 51st Guards Combined Arms Armies and the 68th Guards Army Corps, has started to put this tactic into practice. The enemy is using the same tactics in the Novopavlivka sector,” he said.

According to Colonel Syryskyi, the mobile reserve formed from the units of the Assault Troops is a response to the enemy’s new tactics, which are characterized by mobility and their own tactics of search and strike operations.

“The situation has worsened: an assault battalion or company has moved in, conducted a sweep, supported the units suffering losses, and conducted counteroffensive actions. This is their main difference,” explained the Commander-in-Chief and noted their success in turning the breakthrough into encirclement of the enemy group.

In the offensive, assault troops will be used as part of the advanced units that push through the first line of enemy defense and ensure that airborne or combined arms brigades or battalions are led into battle.

In this way, assault battalions, namely the 33rd and 225th Separate Assault Regiments, were already used at the beginning of the Kursk offensive, opening the way for the paratroopers and mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Syrskyi explained the creation of a separate type of troops by the need to create a separate supply line for subordinate units, as they are not withdrawn for recuperation and are constantly replenished. Currently, these are several assault regiments and separate battalions.

“Both paratroopers and assault troops suffer approximately the same losses in the offensive. They are significantly lower than the enemy’s. A stormtrooper is not a kamikaze. He is a brave warrior, a patriot who joins these troops at the call of his heart and soul. They have their own tactics, their own ideas, their own training. Every assault group is accompanied by a drone that conducts reconnaissance. Assault unit commanders are constantly with their personnel,” he added.

Oleksandr Syrskyi also notes that the Russian military command also chose a similar way of developing the organizational structure and created a separate structure to which the assault troops are subordinated. “It is part of their command center that conducts the operation on our territory.”