Russia's army personnel are forming air assault brigades for landing and surveillance in the rear of Ukrainian defence lines.
The Russians are preparing paratroopers for new operations
According to the Institute for the Study of War, similar units operated during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.
According to Russian sources, such brigades as part of ground units will be able to carry out landings near the rear of Ukraine without parachutes. These will probably be attempts to land from helicopters for rapid personnel deployment, as was the case during the initial battles for Gostomel airport near Kyiv on February 24, 2022.
ISW notes that such a unit already operates in the Zaporizhzhia region — the 49th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade as part of the 58th Combined Arms Army (Southern Military District).
Air Assaults troops exist in the modern army of the Russian Federation as part of the Airborne Forces. That's why their ground formations may well try to create such groups.
Analysts observed cases of the formation of reconnaissance and assault brigades as part of combined military formations. They concluded that creating specialised formations should respond to specific tactical challenges the occupiers currently face in Ukraine.
However, the airborne assault brigades deployment in isolation from the broader force structure of the Airborne Forces is likely to mean that these specialised brigades will be used as yet another means of conducting grueling frontal assaults led by infantry on Ukrainian fortified positions in the short term, experts explain.
American analysts have announced a turning point in Russia's war against Ukraine
According to the ISW team, eliminating more than 20 Russian missiles with the help of active electronic warfare (EW) countermeasures can be considered a new turning point in the war. Experts assume that Ukrainian EW capabilities have reached a new level.
In addition, it is emphasised that Russia's strike campaign against Ukraine and Ukraine's adaptation to countering new Russian strike systems are part of a broader tactical and technological "offence-and-defence" race between long-range aviation and air defence capabilities.
