International- Russia is increasingly relying on large infantry assault tactics in Ukraine.
- One Russian milblogger said there was about to be a "real renaissance of infantry combat."
Russia is increasingly relying on large infantry assault tactics in Ukraine, possibly due to widespread equipment losses and a lack of trained personnel, according to the think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Russia's military-focused bloggers are divided on whether this strategy will lead to success, the think tank said.
One milblogger claimed that Russia's military was about to experience a "real renaissance of infantry combat" as there were fewer infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, and armored personnel carriers near the front line.
However, another milblogger responded that Russia's reliance on these assault tactics reflected the heavy losses of Russian equipment and poor coordination on the front lines.
In just a few weeks of fighting in the east of Ukraine, Russian forces lost as many vehicles as Ukraine did over months of brutal fighting in the south.
Earlier this month Russian forces also began advancing on foot in the heavily-contested eastern city of Avdiivka following major vehicle losses, UK intelligence said.
Another milblogger said that Russia's tactical assaults on Ukrainian strongholds in forest areas of Donbas in eastern Ukraine would likely not lead to a wider breakthrough on the front line, adding that Russia would also struggle to train a sufficient number of troops to carry out the assaults required to make significant advances.
A Telegram channel linked to Russia's Spetsnaz special forces also complained that some of its troops were being incorrectly used to conduct such assaults, leading to high attrition rates, the ISW said.
Spetsnaz forces are typically tasked with stealthy and high-risk missions, including sabotage and reconnaissance, but have been used as part of front-line infantry formations during the invasion of Ukraine, documents in the Pentagon leaks showed.
Ukraine's top general Valerii Zaluzhny wrote in a recent essay for The Economist that the conflict had shifted from maneuver warfare to "'positional' warfare of static and attritional fighting, as in the First World War."
This has led to an increase in Russia's reliance on infantry-led assaults, the ISW said.
Russia's military bloggers have been a useful propaganda tool to drum up support for the war.
However, as the conflict has continued, many have begun voicing criticisms of the Russian military's tactics and performance.