Ukraine's Manpower Crisis Deepens As Territorial Troops Go On The Attack
A Ukrainian official was wrong or lied: yes, the Ukrainian assault forces have apparently compelled poorly trained territorials to conduct dangerous assault operations
Despite official denial, lightly armed Ukrainian territorials have indeed been ordered to attack better-equipped Russian troops
The 108th Territorial Defense Brigade was observed on the attack in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in recent days
Territorials are for defending, not attacking—and their commanders resist efforts to send them on dangerous assault operations
Internal friction between elite assault units and territorial defenders is worsening as commanders scramble for manpower
On Jan. 5, assault troops from the Ukrainian 225th Assault Regiment detained soldiers from the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and forced them to undergo retraining.
Days later, officials promised the territorials would not be used for assault operations.
Days after that, they were caught on camera doing exactly that.
The incident exposes a deepening manpower crisis along Ukraine’s 1,100-km front line. With too few trained assault troops to cover simultaneous Russian advances, commanders are pressing lightly-equipped territorial defenders into offensive roles they were never designed to fill—a sign of just how stretched Ukraine’s infantry has become nearly three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
On or around Jan. 9, the Ukrainian Deep State analysis group observed members of the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade assaulting Russian troops in the village of Pryluky, a few kilometers north of the town of Huliaipole—the locus of fighting in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine.
The territorials weren’t alone. They fought alongside members of the 142nd Mechanized Brigade, a unit with more intensive training and heavier equipment. The combined assault reportedly succeeded in stabilizing the front line threading through Pryluky.
But territorials were never meant for this role. They are designed to hold defensive positions for months or years at a time. They defend. Assault troops are meant to conduct swift, violent counterattacks—and then withdraw. They attack. Asking defensive troops to fight like offensive troops risks losing those troops in failed operations.
“Although these fighters reportedly underwent additional training at the training center of the 225th Assault Regiment, it remains striking that the main assault operations are being carried out not by dedicated assault units, but by territorial defense personnel, whose doctrinal role is to secure positions and hold the second line of defense,” the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team noted.
The confrontation between the two Ukrainian units began in late December, when the 17th Army Corps ordered the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade—holding positions around Mala Tokmachka, 20 km west of Huliaipole—to form a new combat group under the command of the 225th Assault Regiment.
The territorials weren’t ready. The order “met with strong resistance from the officer and [non-commissioned officer] cadre of the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade,” observer Thorkill noted, “and the formation of the combat group was continuously postponed to subsequent days.”
The assault troops wouldn’t wait. “The impatient command of the 225th Assault Regiment decided to enforce its execution by force,” Thorkill reported. On Jan. 5, masked assault troops threatened 108th soldiers and “extracted” them by truck from their positions.
225th Assault Regiment commander Oleh Shyriaev denied any wrongdoing. “Nobody kidnapped” the territorials, he claimed. “Nobody threatened them.”
Some of the transferred soldiers returned to their home brigade within days. But around 20 remained under the command of the 225th, undergoing additional training, Southern Defense Forces spokesman Vladyslav Voloshyn told Militaryland.
“There are no plans to involve them in assault operations,” Voloshyn insisted. Military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova, who convened an online meeting with all parties on Jan. 7, said the situation was under control.
Within days, the retrained territorials were caught on camera assaulting Russian positions near Pryluky.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
Not sure I see your logic in this piece. You did state the territorials were attacking with better trained assault troops. If true then I would see this tactic as unfortunate but certainly necessary. Your analysis of the front line situation would indicate it is essential that hard decisions are in order, territorial commanders not withstanding.