Russia relies on infantry-led assaults to compensate for significant loss of equipment – ISW

Russia has to rely on "infantry frontal attacks" in the war due to the loss of equipment and the lack of properly trained personnel, according to the latest ISW.

Analysts say the continued discussion of large-scale frontal attacks by Russian infantry in military blogs highlights the problems Russia will face if it uses massive infantry attacks.

Russia continues to do so to compensate for the problems in favour of facilitating the current positional warfare, as identified by the Ukrainian forces commander-in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi.

A Telegram channel associated with Russian special forces complained that the reliance on infantry-led frontal assaults was largely attributed to all special forces units deployed in Ukraine, as the Russian command has allegedly used them in frontal assaults since the beginning of the war.

On 11 November, a Russian "military commander" stressed that Russia's practice of conducting tactical assaults to storm Ukrainian fortified positions in the forest areas of Donbas would not lead to a broader operational breakthrough in any part of the frontline.

A critical Russian "military commander" responded to the comment about the "infantry renaissance". He called it a negative reflection of the loss of Russian equipment and poor coordination at the front, which led to a shift to assault tactics.

"The Russian General Staff seems to rely heavily on frontal attacks as the dominant tactic in Ukraine, which is an important part of Russia's solution to the 'military parity' problems outlined in Zaluzhny's column on 'positional warfare'," the experts conclude.

Key takeaways from ISW report: 

• On the night of 10-11 November, Russian forces launched large-scale missile and drone strikes, targeting the Kyiv region for the first time in 52 days.
• Ukrainian intelligence was reportedly involved in at least one of the three strikes on Russian territory on 10-11 November.
• Russian troops continued offensive operations along the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, near Avdiivka, west and southwest of Donetsk, in the border area of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, and in western Zaporizhzhia region, and advanced near Avdiivka.
• The Russian authorities reportedly launched another large-scale wave of covert mobilisation.

The Russian army in the Donetsk region has been using "Storm-Z" infantry units in attacks near Avdiivka, which lose 40 to 70 per cent of their personnel in a matter of days.