Russia’s war strategy in Ukraine and the role of the Chechen armed forces

The war strategy in Ukraine is now emerging: use air and missile strikes to degrade Ukrainian defensive positions and then send the infantry forces to clear and hold territories. That is what happened in the city of Mariupol during the first four months of the operation, and this is what is happening now in the south near Kharkov and in the east. In Mariupol and the Donbas region, the infantry consisted mainly of 10,000 Chechen troops. Those forces returned home in June. Since then, there appeared little progress on the ground but constant bombardment from air and from distance. 

With Ukrainian troops leaving their defensive positions in the south to execute a plan to retake Kharkov and push Russian forces east of the river, Russian forces were able to target the exposed Ukrainian troops and plan for the next phase, which appear to aim at taking more ground and increasing the buffer zone it has created around the areas that will be declared autonomous republics. This is where ground troops will be needed. Again, Chechen armed forces seem to be the go-to option. Today, Chechen officials arranged for the transport of thousands of elite fighters who will be deployed in areas “beyond the Donbas” region.

Meanwhile, today, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces repelled an attack by Ukrainian forces on the Kharkov axis, inflicting losses on the attacking forces of more than 50 people.

According to the ministry, the nationalist battalion "Kraken" opened fire on the retreating, killing most of them.

The Defense Ministry also announced the downing of eight Ukrainian drones over the Kharkov and Kherson provinces, as well as the interception of two American-made AGM-88 Harm missiles over the Antonov Bridge area.

The Russian Air Defense Forces also intercepted a "Tochka-O" ballistic missile in the Bezymyanoy district of Kherson Province, and 48 missiles, including 44 "Himars" missiles, were intercepted in the "Mozikovka", "Znamenka", "Vesuloye" and "Kamenka" regions, "Darievka", "Novaya Kakhovka", "Perslav", "Dnebriani" and "Tomarino".

Simultaneously, the Ministry announced that the units of the 72nd Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade, in the Artemovsk region of the Donetsk People's Republic, refused to carry out orders and left their positions and left, due to heavy losses, low equipment, and lack of fire support.

Also, the Ukrainian forces lost another 350 personnel on the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rok axes, during the past 24 hours, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

"During the day, the Kyiv regime continued its unsuccessful attempts to conduct offensive operations on the Nikolaev-Kryvi Rok axes," the ministry said in a statement.

Video documenting Chechen armed forces deployment to Ukraine: