At least five Russian paratroop regiments drawn from the 7th and 76th divisions are likely now concentrated within a few kilometers of the frontline village of Robotyne, the UK Ministry of Defense’s Defense Intelligence agency said in its Ukraine situation report for Sept. 18.
At full strength, such a force would constitute around 10,000 elite paratroopers, the agency’s report said.
Read also: Breaking down Russia’s lines – general reports Ukrainian gains in south
Over the last two weeks, Russia has likely further reinforced the hard-pressed 58th Combined Arms Army with additional paratrooper units on the Orikhiv axis in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, the report added.
However, almost all units are highly likely dramatically under strength. The current situation is likely to be seen as highly unsatisfactory by the VDV (Russian airborne) hierarchy.
This is because throughout the war, Russian commanders have attempted to regenerate the airborne forces as a highly mobile, striking force for offensive operations. But once again, they are being used as line infantry to augment over-stretched ground forces, UK Defense Intelligence said.
Earlier, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported that a new phase of Ukraine’s counter-offensive had begun, with the main blow coming from the southeast, where Ukrainian soldiers are gradually advancing through minefields and under attack by Russian aircraft.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi last month told U.S. officials that Ukrainian forces are on the verge of a breakthrough in their southern counteroffensive, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 24, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Then in early September, the commander of the Tavria operational and strategic grouping of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had broken through the first line of Russian defense on the southern front.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sept. 11 that Ukrainian troops had liberated part of Opytne near Avdiyivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The Ukrainian military announced on Sept. 17 that Ukrainian forces had liberated the village of Klishchiyivka south of the Russian-occupied ruins of the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.
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