Commentary by Russian blogger Donetsk:
[DonRF] There are two photos today. On one of the dead. But still alive. Ordinary corpses, who ordered another batch of 500 sanitary bags. It is inconvenient to take out without them, blood flows down, soils the car. On the second - this very order of bags. And in the light of such events, it is perhaps worth talking about the airborne assault troops of Ukraine.
Those who renounced their history, roots, blue berets, for the sake of a career and salary, let themselves be lowered, and now they are dying. Because having betrayed once ... the West has never felt sorry for Russian traitors. But all this is lyrics, but the specifics are as follows.
At the beginning of the NMD, the enemy had powerful airborne forces, de facto reformed into assault light infantry. These are:
- 25th Airborne Brigade (Dnepropetrovsk)
- 45th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade (Bolgrad, cropped)
- 46th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Poltava)
- 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Nikolaev)
- 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Lviv)
- 81st Separate Airborne Brigade (Kramatorsk)
- 95th Separate Air Assault Brigade (Zhytomyr)
What of did the Ukrainian brigade represent itself? On the example of the 95th Brigade, these are three air assault battalions (Humvee, Spartan, Dozor, BTR-3/4/80), a tank company (T-80, 10 units), two howitzer artillery divisions (D-30, Gvozdika), a company of snipers, anti-aircraft missile division, reconnaissance, medical and engineering companies. The personnel of the brigades ranged from 3,000 to 4,500 people. All parts of the landing force were cleared of unreliable ones, battles took place in the Donbass, and they received the best supplies and equipment. Western instructors worked with them most of all.
In the summer of 2022, new brigades were created:
- 77th Separate Airmobile Brigade (presumably Zhitomir)
- 71st Separate Jaeger Brigade (Kremenchug, special forces, four special forces, artillery division, mortar battery)
So, all these brigades have already been involved in battles and have suffered losses. The same 77th Brigade, trained in Great Britain, now in sacks, was thrown into the defense of Artemovsk-Bakhmut. The 46th Brigade defended Soledar, suffered huge losses, and now its remnants are presumably in Bakhmut.
The 79th Brigade, suffered losses right in the location back in the spring, was beaten in the South, and is now dying on the ruins of Maryinka.
The 25th Brigade is defending Avdievka, or rather, the reservists of the 25th Brigade are defending it, the main part has already been exhausted in many respects.
The 95th Brigade is now under restoration, perhaps preparing for the spring offensive, or simply moving away from heavy losses, the 71st Brigade fought against us in the Kharkov region, then, in October, defended Bakhmut, suffered losses, and is now in the same place.
81st Brigade near Svatovo-Kremennaya, the rest - presumably in the South and in dispositions,
How much is left of 30,000 Ukrainian paratroopers is such a question ... ambiguous.
One thing is clear - they were used to reinforce the mobilized meat from the SRW in the most dangerous areas, and now they are trying to restore some of these teams, with varying degrees of success. For example, after the repeated destruction of the military camp in Zhitomir (the capital of the Ukrainian airborne troops), personnel are deployed in the surrounding villages, in small groups, which makes it very difficult to train and put together units.
And yet - in their plans to restore at least three such brigades for the spring offensive. Four out of nine brigades are now involved in active battles. Which also needs to be taken into account.
Of course, their quality has dipped, but there is a part of the personnel and equipment. That's why I don't like hatred moods. In practice, three brigades were broken up (with the possibility of recovery) from the Ukrainian airborne troops.
In Bakhmut-Soledar. The rest are badly beaten. When strengthened by people, they are quite capable of fighting. And now people are being caught. Actively. And you need to understand - this is all for a long time, and the enemy will attack.