Russia’s small squad infiltration tactics no longer viable
REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov
With the integration of dedicated drone squads into Ukrainian
units, Russia’s penchant for sending small infantry
groups to infiltrate beyond the contact line is no longer effective, Ukrainian
officer and war correspondent Yuriy Butusov told NV Radio on June 2.
“There has been an organizational, qualitative, and quantitative growth of UAV units in Ukraine’s Defense Forces,” Butusov, who commands on of these drone squads, said.
“UAVs have become the foundation of our battle formations. Their numbers and the quality of their work have increased. Overall, support, production, the number of drones and the infrastructure for their use are improving — not yet enough, but improving. This significant increase in UAV positions in combat formations has made it practically impossible for the enemy to break through such a dense drone-and-infantry defense, even using infiltration tactics.”
He said any enemy advance now inflicts heavy losses on Russian forces, making infiltration far less effective than even a year ago because it “meets fairly stiff resistance everywhere.”
“The enemy advances only where it manages to achieve local air superiority, and those are very localized sections of the front,” Butusov added.
“So there really is a turning point, but it is strictly at the tactical level, not across the entire front, and it has not yet become a strategic turning point.”
Butusov said infiltration remains possible, but with the
widespread increase in the number and quality of UAV operations, the tactic has
become too costly for the enemy to sustain.
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