Analysis of the number and military capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Analysis of the number and military capabilities of the Armed Forces Composition of the Armed Forces brigade
"In the spring of this year, the Armed Forces of Ukraine numbered eighteen full-fledged brigades. Including: 2 tank (1st and 17th); 8 mechanized (24th, 28th, 30th, 51st, 72nd , 92nd, 93rd, 128th); 4 airborne (25th, 79th, 80th, 95th); 3 artillery (11th, 26th, 55th) and 1 rocket. Plus seven separate regiments: 80th airmobile; 15th, 27th and 107th rocket artillery regiments; 2nd, 3rd and 8th special purpose regiments. In addition to them, Ukraine had some other list support units: separate engineering battalions, communications battalions and companies, all sorts of couriers, medics, logistics departments and headquarters bases.
In terms of its personnel numbers and, in particular, in terms of the volume of heavy weapons stocks, as of February 2014, the Ukrainian ground army was confidently one of the five largest in Europe. Then fighting began in the southeast of the country, ending in a series of crushing defeats. The shocking first Cauldron 1.0 near the Russian border. Then stubborn battles for Saur-Mogila. Lost battle for Ilovaisk. Next is Boiler 2.0. Environment in the Zhdanovka area. Almost abandoned Mariupol. The country's air force was almost completely destroyed. Huge losses in manpower and, especially, in equipment. So what is left of the Ukrainian army at the moment? We will now try to figure this out.
To conduct combat operations, autonomous units were formed on the basis of tank, infantry and airborne brigades - battalion tactical groups - capable of independently solving problems on the battlefield. To put it simply, the BTG is a full-time battalion, as a unitary basis, reinforced by a reconnaissance company, a company of heavy weapons (if the main battalion is infantry, or a couple of infantry companies if the main battalion is a tank battalion), an artillery battery, a communications platoon, logistics personnel, and repairmen and doctors. So a mechanized brigade, with a staff of 4,200 people, fielded two BTGs of 1,400 people.
At the same time, the brigade headquarters, a rear repair base and several combat companies (for example, 4 mechanized and 2 tank) remain at the point of permanent deployment to organize the process of rotation of units, compensate for losses and organize the training of incoming marching reinforcements. BTGs come in tank and infantry variants. The latter are divided into heavy and light. Heavy brigades are formed on the basis of mechanized brigades and include a reconnaissance company, a sniper company, up to 4 batteries of cannon and rocket artillery, and can number up to 2 thousand people. The lungs are formed on the basis of airborne units and other infantry. As a rule, they do not have their own tanks or artillery divisions. For this reason, they are distinguished by high mobility and can be easily, like a Lego set, assembled into the configuration required in the specific conditions of a combat situation and taking into account the specifics of the terrain.
To date, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have at least eight, maximum nine heavy BTGs based on mechanized brigades. Including: 2 BTGs each formed on the basis of the 24th and 30th brigades; one each in the 72nd, 92nd, 93rd and 128th brigades. The fate of the 51st mechanized brigade remains unclear. The fact is that after the summer total defeat and cases of mass desertion of its units in the summer battles, it was disbanded by Porosheno’s decree. On its basis, a new, 14th, mechanized brigade will be created, which should appear in reality in November - December of this year. According to plan.
How in reality is unknown, but by the time of the decree, relatively only one BTG of the 51st Mechanized Brigade continued to fight in the ATO zone. It seems they didn’t take her to the rear, but simply reassigned her to the command of the 128th brigade and left her at the front. This gives rise to the uncertainty mentioned above. If we count to the maximum, in heavy BTGs the ATO headquarters has 12,600 “bayonets”, about 130 tanks, approximately 350 armored vehicles of various types. True, after the huge summer “loss” of equipment, these are already second and even third grade boxes. Restored from backup storage databases. There is also the almost completely destroyed, but hastily restored 28th mechanized brigade, which was withdrawn from the ATO zone and is in the reserve of the General Staff. On its basis, it is also possible to create one, maximum two, BTG, but this one will be heavy only in name. However, no, but a reserve.
Despite the April incident with the 25th Airborne Brigade, which was then rashly even going to be disbanded outright, during the summer battles it was the airborne units that showed the greatest combat resilience and real effectiveness. Feeling this, the command soon began to hammer literally every nail with them, which turned out to be a very high price. For example, the 79th Airmobile Brigade ceased to exist altogether. From its remnants they managed to scrape together only one battalion. They proudly called it “Phoenix”. According to papers, it is also airmobile, but in essence it is not much different from territorial battalions. Nevertheless, according to the records, this is an airborne BTG, albeit with 600 people.
However, the other three brigades are doing little better. For example, the remnants of two battalions of the 25th Airborne Brigade are still surrounded by Dyakovo and Petrovsky. So in total, the paratroopers were able to field only 4 “light” BTGs, one from each brigade. Plus a very, very light battalion from mountain riflemen and, in fact, a company tactical group (up to 300 people) from the 80th separate airmobile regiment. A total of 4,500 “bayonets” and 160-170 armored vehicles. Moreover, for the most part these are already old armored personnel carriers, received to replace the BMD lost in battle. Accordingly, their support weapons are mainly machine guns instead of turret-mounted automatic 30-mm cannons.
Ukrainian tank units suffered huge losses. To date, not everything has been recovered. But the 1st Tank Brigade did not receive the latest Bulat tanks at all. And, apparently, he will never receive it again. Therefore, to date, two Ukrainian tank brigades have been able to place only the 2nd BTG in the first line. Moreover, already in August - September it became clear that they were not considered by the command as bahts, but served as a reserve for being torn to pieces to strengthen the sharply weakened infantry.
At the same time, the battalion of the 1st brigade is dismantled into companies, and the 17th is scattered along the entire front by platoon. A platoon, by the way, is three tanks. Thus, formally, the two tank BTGs have about 1,000 personnel, 80-90 tanks, and about 30 armored vehicles (mostly infantry fighting vehicles). In fact, they are scattered in small groups in other parts or are used as reinforcement in solving individual offensive or defensive tasks. Although the militias have already weaned the Ukrainian generals away from the idea of digging tanks at checkpoints.
It is not possible to accurately calculate the composition of the Ukrainian Armed Forces artillery group. At the moment, we can only state the following general facts. All three artillery brigades, all three separate MLRS regiments and an OTR missile brigade are involved in the ATO zone. The latter’s positions are located in the area of the command post of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Anti-Terrorist Operation near Kramatorsk. Active battles of the summer company led to significant losses, which are estimated at 60-65% of the original staff strength. This allows us to assume their current strength in total: 1800 people and approximately 80-90 towed and self-propelled guns of 152 mm caliber.
To these should be added the battalion tactical groups' own batteries, usually consisting of towed 122-mm D-30 howitzers and 100-mm MT-12 Rapier anti-tank guns. Normally, the BTG has at least one, maximum four of its own batteries, but now they are unlikely to have more than one full-fledged battery per battalion. Which allows us to assume the total number of guns of caliber “up to 150 mm” to be 60-80 pieces. It is worth adding about 90-94 more towed mortars and at least 8 230-mm Tulip self-propelled mortars. Total 230-340 guns and mortars of all calibers.
In total, the army component of the Armed Forces of Ukraine currently numbers about 20 thousand personnel, about 220 tanks, up to 500 armored vehicles (from the remains of infantry fighting vehicles/BMDs to all kinds of BRDM-2) and approximately 300 guns and mortars. In addition, Ukraine has created such formations as the National Guard (former internal troops), territorial defense battalions, battalions of the special patrol service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and battalions of the Right Sector Volunteer Corps. Many of them have a confusing structure and strange dual identities, but it is still possible to sort out this mess.
In order to quickly increase the number of armed forces in Ukraine, 32 so-called territorial defense battalions (APB) with a staff strength of 430 people (60 officers, 370 privates and sergeants) were formed on the basis of administrative regions. Three companies of 130 people each plus a control section. It was assumed that these battalions would only carry out security and patrol services at rear facilities, so they were not given any heavy weapons. Even to this day, almost all of them travel in civilian cars, armored trucks and tourist buses. At best they have 4-6 BRDM-2s. The luckiest ones knocked out an armored personnel carrier each.
To date, their fates have been extremely varied. Seven armored personnel carriers carry out security service in different regions of Ukraine. Two - the 5th and 12th - rebelled, left the ranks and are now making a fuss in the rear. The authorities are trying to somehow calm them down, but have not yet achieved results. However, they can be safely crossed off from the list of combat-ready units. Another four were rotated out of the ATO zone to permanent deployment points and released on short-term leave. Those. on paper they exist, but whether the soldiers will return to the barracks in the event of another defeat of the army is a big question. So you can also not count them yet.
One battalion - 40 armored personnel carriers "Krivbass" was completely destroyed in Cauldron 2.0. His command deserted the battlefield and nothing more was heard about the fate of this battalion. Two more baht are still in the formation stage and cannot be involved in any operations. Thus, there remain 16 battalions of very, very light infantry, even lighter than the paratroopers, with a total strength, taking into account the losses already suffered and some replenishment as a result of the “third wave of mobilization”, numbering 6,400 bayonets, about 20 mortars and no heavy weapons of their own . They were supposed to sit in the rear, but an acute shortage of infantry forced the command to put them in the first line.
In parallel with the territorial defense battalions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine created special patrol service battalions (BPSON) from its employees. Very specific formations with very narrow tasks of “ensuring the regime in the rear of the army.” In essence, these are patrol police officers who were given a different uniform and sent to the front. The average number of personnel is 180-200 people. The main task is service at checkpoints, escorting convoys, clearing territory after it is occupied by army units, general counter-guerrilla operations, identifying and detaining “suspicious persons and foreign spies.” They appear extremely rarely in the first line. Mostly they “work in the rear,” but if the headquarters are pressed, they may well use armored personnel carriers as line infantry.
A total of 28 bpson were formed. True, one of them - Shakhtersk - was disbanded in disgrace for mass looting, another 7 are in permanent dislocation points and are being restored after complete defeat in the battles of July - August of this year. The remaining 20 are in the ATO Zone. At the same time, two of them, “Dnepr” and “Azov”, were deployed into regiments of 900 people for special merits and were given their own heavy weapons. However, whether they received what was promised is currently unknown. Taking into account all of the above, the total number of special battalions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can be estimated at 5,400 bayonets of the same light infantry as territorial defense battalions.
Based on the internal troops of Ukraine and “patriotic volunteers,” the formation of the National Guard of Ukraine began back in April 2014. To date, five battalions have been formed (1-5 NG bons) with approximately 490 people each. In essence, they differ in little from the territorial defense battalions, except for their belonging. But they are better supplied with armored vehicles. All NG bons are in the ATO zone and are participating in battles. By the way, the 5th NG bonnet is fighting in the basements and tunnels of the Donetsk airport. The total strength of the National Guard is estimated at 2,450 personnel and up to 50 light armored vehicles.
In addition to the completely official ones, there is a component with an unclear status within the armed formations of Ukraine. It is called the “Right Sector” battalions, united in the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps. Formally, they are under the auspices of both the army and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Although at the same time they often wage “their own war.” At the moment, all of them are in the ATO zone. 1st Transcarpathian, 2nd Lviv, 3rd Volyn, 4th Rivne, 5th Ivano-Frankivsk, 6th Ternopil. There were also reports about the existence of a certain 9th PS UDC and an OUN battalion, but these two units are not exactly listed in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The number of one baht PS ranges from 240 to 400 people. If we count on average, then the entire UDC has approximately 1500-2000 bayonets. Armament is only light small arms.
To all of the above should also be added about 900 soldiers of three (2nd Kiev, 3rd Kirovograd and 8th Khmelnytsky) separate special purpose regiments (Special Forces), a combined battalion "Berkut" (approximately 400 people), a company of Ukrainian Marines (about 200 people), four consolidated special-purpose companies of the State Border Service and a certain number (up to 150 people) of other “specialists”, for example, from the “special units” of the SBU. In total, there are up to 2,000 such “special forces” in Ukraine today. Thus, the total number of forces and assets that Kiev can use in the expected “large and decisive offensive this weekend” is 38,250 soldiers and officers (plus a certain number of rear structures, such as individual signal companies, staff workers, engineer battalions, field repair centers, medical companies, etc., which do not participate in the battle). They are armed with approximately 220 tanks, about 600 light armored vehicles of all types and types (including frankly non-functional junk), and up to 350 guns, mortars and multiple rocket launchers. With an almost complete absence of strategic reserves.
The force is serious, but in general I would like to note that it clearly does not reach the 60 thousand “first-line bayonets” often declared recently. If we draw historical parallels, the spring of 1942 begins in the southeast of Ukraine. The Wehrmacht is preparing for a decisive offensive. It is still strong, but it is far from being the same Wehrmacht of the summer of 1941 and it is preparing an certainly decisive offensive, but not at all like before, along the entire front. Only in one area. Because there is no strength for more. This is the overall picture."
Alexander Zapolskis
57th motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during a punitive operation in Donbass The formation of the 57th motorized infantry brigade began in the fall of 2014. The city of Kirovograd became the permanent location of the brigade. It is noteworthy that the brigade was formed exclusively on the basis of territorial defense battalions formed on the territory of the Kirovograd region. The brigade included the 17th APC "Kirovograd", the 34th APC "Batkivshchyna", as well as the 42nd APC "Rukh Opory". It is worth noting that in the summer of 2014, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine sent a combined company of the 42nd battalion to the relief blockade of the Ilovaisk pocket, where it was successfully defeated. More than half of the fighters of the combined company were captured. The brigade actually did not have its own armored vehicles, the number -1 did not exceed 10 (!) vehicles. In addition, the 42nd battalion, hereafter referred to as the motorized infantry battalion, had 13 -70. They tried to compensate for the lack of infantry fighting vehicles by transferring BRDM-2 from storage bases, as well as MTLB tractors, which were absolutely not intended for use on the battlefield. In addition, the brigade was reinforced with an engineering company. Already in 2015, a tank company and a division of towed howitzers were introduced into the 57th motorized infantry brigade. Colonel Krasilnikov was appointed the first commander of the brigade. In November 2014, brigade units were deployed on the contact line in the area of Gorlovka (34th motorized infantry battalion) and Debaltsevo (42nd motorized infantry battalion). At the end of November, the 42nd battalion lost the first BTR-70, knocked out in the Debaltsevo area. By the end of 2014, the brigade's losses in manpower amounted to 8 people killed. By the beginning of 2015, units of the 57th Mechanized Infantry Brigade were scattered at checkpoints over a wide area from Konstantinovka in the south to Debaltsevo in the north. Thus, the 42nd battalion, reinforced by an engineering company, operated with the main forces in the area of the so-called “Debaltsevo ledge”, and one of its companies was located in Konstantinovka. The main forces of the 17th Kirovograd battalion operated in the same area. The 34th Batkivshchyna battalion was stationed in the Gorlovka area. During the battles for the Donetsk airport, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, experiencing an acute shortage of armored vehicles, tried to use the MTLB of the 57th Mechanized Infantry Brigade to try to break through to the “cyborgs” blocked in the New Terminal. One tractor, not intended for use on the battlefield, was damaged and was captured by the militia as a trophy. One soldier of the 17th battalion was killed, another was captured. On January 21, in Konstantinovka, a drunken soldier of the 42nd battalion "Rukh Opory" shot three colleagues. During the winter battles near Debaltsevo, an BTR-70 from the brigade was shot down; in total, at least 9 of its servicemen were killed during the fighting in this direction. During this period, the main forces of the 34th battalion fought fierce positional battles near Gorlovka. After the conclusion of Minsk-2, units of the 42nd battalion withdrawn from the Debaltsevo direction were transferred to Gorlovka. The units of the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade, not provided with armored vehicles and artillery, were actually only suitable for holding positions at checkpoints. However, until May 2016, units of the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade fought positional battles in one of the hottest points of the front line near the village of Zaitsevo, losing a total of 40 people killed. It is the fighters of the 57th Mechanized Infantry Brigade who bear a significant share of responsibility for numerous cases of ceasefire violations in this direction. The DPR fighters were especially annoyed by snipers from the brigade. In early December 2015, the command of the People's Militia of the DPR transferred the most trained snipers to Gorlovka, who within a few days destroyed at least 4 snipers of the 57th Mechanized Infantry Brigade during sniper duels. In May 2016, the brigade was withdrawn from the so-called ATO zone and transferred to the border with Crimea. In July 2017, the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade was transferred to the Peskov area near Donetsk, where it continues to fight to this day. It is curious that when the 92nd mechanized brigade was withdrawn from the front line for rotation in October 2017, several of its former fighters, who had previously served in the Azov regiment, joined the 42nd battalion "Rukh Opory". One of them, the Georgian nationalist Suralidze, was killed on October 31 during a clash near Donetsk airport. In the new year 2018, the brigade was noted for the loss of a BRDM-2 in Sands, which was blown up by an anti-tank mine. In this case, 2 soldiers of the 34th Batkivshchyna battalion were killed. The brigade's losses since July 2017 amount to at least 10 people killed. At the moment, the 57th Mechanized Infantry Brigade continues to hold positions in the Peski area on the contact line. The 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade, like all 4 motorized infantry brigades, is a typical ersatz formation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, created during the war in Donbass. Lacking sufficient artillery and armored vehicles, it is intended only to hold positions at checkpoints and has no actual combat value. The total losses of the brigade in the Donbass amounted to 77 people killed, in addition, 3 BTR-70, MTLB and BRDM-2 of the 57th Motorized Rifle Brigade were destroyed. Two more MTLB tractors became trophies for the defenders of Donbass. The 57th brigade suffered perhaps the most serious losses among the motorized infantry brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was due to its location in one of the “hottest” sections of the front line near Gorlovka in 2015 - early 2016. At the moment, along with three motorized infantry battalions, the brigade includes a reconnaissance, engineer and sapper, medical, tank company, and a sniper platoon. The artillery component is represented by an artillery division, as well as a division of MT-12 Rapier anti-tank guns. The brigade was assigned an anti-aircraft artillery division. The 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade does not have a sufficient number of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, and in fact its personnel travel on trucks. BRDM-2 and MTLB tractors are used in large quantities, some of which are armed with twin ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns.
The commander of the 2nd platoon of the 4th company of the 2nd battalion of the 128th mountain assault brigade, Captain Slobodchan, died from gunshot wounds received in the hospital due to a domestic quarrel between drunken Ukrainian militants. This was stated by the head of the press service of the DPR operational command, Daniil Bezsonov.
In addition, according to him, at the platoon stronghold of the 534th battalion of the 128th mountain assault brigade in the area of the village of Granitnoye, after drinking alcohol during a verbal altercation that turned into a brawl, private Romanyuk received a gunshot wound.
In turn, at the observation post of the 503rd battalion of the 36th Marine Brigade in the area of the village of Vodyanoye, as a result of careless handling of an RGD-5 hand grenade, arriving in a state of alcoholic intoxication, sailor Shatilo received shrapnel wounds.
Let us remind you that earlier today in Donbass.
Against a backdrop of moral decay, poverty and desertion.
*Extremist and terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation: Jehovah's Witnesses, National Bolshevik Party, Right Sector, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Islamic State (IS, ISIS, Daesh), Jabhat Fatah al-Sham", "Jabhat al-Nusra", "Al-Qaeda", "UNA-UNSO", "Taliban", "Majlis of the Crimean Tatar People", "Misanthropic Division", "Brotherhood" of Korchinsky, "Trident named after. Stepan Bandera", "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN), C14 (Sich), VO "Svoboda".to be the first to know about the main news and most important events of the day.
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That they are being thrown to slaughter.
The Ukrainian army is not happy with the “creeping offensive” tactics, which provoked retaliatory actions by the DPR armed forces near Avdievka, writes the online newspaper “Strana”.
The publication notes that earlier representatives of the Ministry of Defense stated that Ukrainian troops were advancing through “no man's land” in order to reach positions that were prescribed under the Minsk agreements.
The publication writes that this tactic is called “frog jumping” by the troops, and the result of the “creeping offensive” was that “Ukrainian troops actually entered the highway that connects Gorlovka and Donetsk, after which the separatists struck back.”
The author of the publication points out that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and experts close to it claim the success of such tactics, supposedly allowing “to level the front line and occupy the most advantageous positions, which will be useful in the future both for defense and for a possible offensive.”
True, the soldiers of the 72nd brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, sent on the offensive near Avdievka, admitted to Strana that “frog jumping” is not very popular among the troops.
“From the point of view of the ATO headquarters, this is probably advisable - to shift our positions towards the separators by several hundred meters and level the front line. But at the level of ordinary fighters, those who have to carry it out, other conversations are heard. There are too many losses due to hundreds of meters of empty land that no one needs.
Some fighters begin to “get sick” before the attack. In general, they find any excuse not to move forward under fire because of the Napoleonic plans of the staff officers,” said a brigade officer named Andrei.
At the same time, junior sergeant Yuri from the same unit admits that they are sent to attack virtually without fire support.
« It seems we have the Minsk agreements, and we are given the order to attack.
Well, ok, then support the attack according to all the rules - with artillery, tanks, from the air. Instead, only infantry attacks - they are thrown forward like partisan sabotage detachments, which immediately suffer losses. All this raises a lot of questions for the command - why is this being done. And are some cunning political plans being decided at our expense?", the fighter complains.
Complain, don’t complain, but cunning plans are still decided at your expense, the idiot.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters are thinking about the Minsk Agreements.
They even started to “get sick”.
That's what "the magic kickstand does."
The “cyborgs” themselves complain that such a tactical move to “level the front line” led to a harsh response from the DPR troops and turned the “VSUshnikov” literally into “cannon fodder.”
=================================
PS. The Kiev junta does not even think of changing anything in its tactics, continuing to litter the lands of the South-East with the corpses of its punitive forces.
Apparently, all the artillery is busy shelling populated areas with civilians and takes little part in real battles.
Senseless attacks, mountains of unjustified “two hundredths”, barrage detachments - Kyiv’s “creeping offensive” more and more resembles the convulsive agony of a dying regime than a well-thought-out military operation. “ATO soldiers” increasingly refuse to go on the offensive, for which they receive shots in the back from blocking detachments consisting of “Pravosek” bandits.
Petro Poroshenko is literally throwing “to slaughter” the last representatives of the “most combat-ready army in Europe,” which is thinning out every day.