British Intelligence: Russia Throwing Elite Airborne Troops Into Battle

Paratroopers will be used as regular infantry.

The Russian General Staff is using elite units of the armed forces to "patch up" the front in Zaporizhzhia region, where the Ukrainian army has broken through the first line of defence and liberated more than 200 square kilometres of territory since the counter-offensive started in the summer.

Several regiments of the 76th Airborne Division, considered one of Russia's best, have been moved to the southern front in the area of Robotyne, British intelligence said in a daily update on Monday. Together with regiments of the 7th Airborne Division, the Pskov paratroopers were sent to reinforce the 58th All-Russian Army, which has the task of holding the defence on the critical section of the front.

We are talking about thousands of fighters, whom Russian generals had previously sought to use as a highly mobile strike force. The number of reinforcements could usually be up to 10,000 paratroopers, British intelligence says, adding that in reality almost all of these units are understaffed due to massive losses.

At the moment, almost all Airborne Troops units that were available to the Russian General Staff have been thrown into southern Ukraine, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted in a review on Monday.

The Russian army desperately lacks fighters to defend the entire perimeter of fortifications prepared for the AFU counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia region, ISW states. "The transfer of numerous Airborne Forces divisions could help the Russian Armed Forces to fill the defence lines with manpower, forcing Ukrainian troops to face new defenders each time," the review said.

The fact that the "VDV elite" are being used as line infantry is likely to cause discontent among the leadership of this branch of the military, the British intelligence writes. However, the generals have little choice: forces in the south are depleted. According to American estimates, since the beginning of the war, the losses of the Russian army in Ukraine have reached 300,000 people, of which 120,000 killed and another 180,000 wounded.