Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

This is the order of battle for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It should not be considered completely up to date nor accurate, being based on open-source press reporting.

An updated order of battle estimate for April 23, 2023, by the Institute for the Study of War is accessible at:

Russian forces in 2022

Senior commanders for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine
General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff and commander of Russian forces in Ukraine

Administrative chain of command

Commanders of the various MOD armed services and branches do not have operational control over the forces. They are responsible for force development and generation. The Chiefs of the ground forces, the aerospace forces, the navy, the strategic missile forces and the airborne forces also hold the appointments of Deputy Ministers of Defence, junior to the Chief of the General Staff, who is the First Deputy Minister of Defence.

The General Staff commands and controls forces through the National Defence Management Centre (NDMC). Operational control of the forces is carried out by the five Operational-Strategic Commands - the Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Military Districts and the OSK Northern Fleet, which is their equal. The Western and the Southern Military Districts share borders with Ukraine and are directly involved in the command and control of the operations.

Pre-2022 Russian military doctrine had specified that on the outbreak of war, armed forces from non-MOD services (like Rosgvardiya) would be placed under the General Staff.

Initial force groupings

Ukrainian military commentator Yuri Butusov listed the following initial March 2022 deployment of Russian/allied forces:

Southwestern Belarus grouping (blocking contingent against Ukrainian forces in Western Ukraine):

  • located around Brest, Luninets, Baranovichi, Osipovichi and Minsk
  • including forces from the Northern Fleet (200th (Arctic) Motor Rifle Brigade, 61st Guards Naval Infantry Brigade) and the VDV (76th and 98th Guards airborne divisions), estimated strength of 6–7 battalion tactical groups

Southeastern Belarus grouping (Kyiv offensive direction):

  • located around Vepri, Elsin, Bragin, Khainini, Rechitsya and Mozir
  • including forces from the 5th, 35th and 36th Combined Arms Armies, estimated strength of 7–9 battalion tactical groups

Bryansk grouping (Chernihiv offensive direction):

  • located around Klimovo, Klintsi, Pochep and Sevsk
  • including forces from the 41st Combined Arms Army and the 90th Guards Tank Division, estimated strength of 3 battalion tactical groups

Kursk – Belgorod grouping (Sumy offensive direction):

  • located around Tomarovka, Vesela Lopan', Zorino, Pristen', Kursk and Belgorod
  • including forces from the 6th and 20th combined arms armies, estimated strength of 4 battalion tactical groups

Voronezh grouping (Kharkiv offensive direction):

  • located around Stariy Oskol, Soloti, Valuyki, Boguchar, Pogonovo and Voronezh
  • including forces from the 6th Tank and 20th combined arms armies, estimated strength of 13–14 battalion tactical groups

Smolensk grouping (operational reserve of the northern front)

  • located around Yel'nya
  • including forces from the 20th and 41st combined arms armies, estimated strength of 6–7 battalion tactical groups

Rostov grouping (Donbas and eastern Sea of Azov offensive direction)

  • located around Rostov-on-the-Don and Kamensk-Shakhtinskiy
  • including forces from the 8th Combined Arms Army, estimated strength of 6 battalion tactical groups
  • Ukraine says the 8th CAA has operational control over the Donetsk People's Republic People's Militia and the Luhansk People's Republic People's Militia, naming them the Russian 1st and 2nd Army Corps

Crimea grouping (southern Ukraine offensive direction):

  • located around the Crimean Peninsula (Slavne, Dzhankoy, Novoozerne, Yevpatoriya, Sevastopol, Oktyabrskoye, Bakhchisaray, Angarskiy, Feodosiya, Opuk)
  • including forces from the 58th Combined Arms Army and the Black Sea Fleet's 22nd Army Corps (810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade), estimated strength of up to 13 battalion tactical groups

Kuban grouping (operational reserve of the southern front)

  • located around the Kuban Peninsula (Novorossiysk, Korenovsk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar, Mol'kino and Maykop) and Stavropol
  • including forces from the 49th Combined Arms Army, the Black Sea Fleet's 22nd Army Corps and the VDV's 7th Guards (Mountain) Air Assault Division, estimated strength of 6 battalion tactical groups

Russian leaders 2022-23

Despite evolving Russian doctrine which specified all troops and forces operating from one Operational-Strategic Command (OSK) be placed under one commander, multiple repeated sources (Rochan Consulting, Center for Naval Analysis, British Ministry of Defence) reported that separate groupings of forces drawn from each of the four military districts, under the leadership of senior personnel from that military district, took part in the initial invasion. President Vladimir Putin was repeatedly reported as taking a very involved stance, sometimes giving orders to field formations.

In April 2022, the invasion began to run into setbacks; Russian forces were forced to withdraw from their attempt to take Kyiv. Therefore to handle a longer war, a single coordinating senior officer was appointed.

  • Army General Aleksandr Dvornikov (8 April 2022 – 25 June 2022): placed in overall charge of military operations in Ukraine, effectively ending the grouping system;
  • Colonel General Gennady Zhidko (26 June 2022 – 7 October 2022): appointed by Vladimir Putin to the top position, replacing Dvornikov;
  • Army General Sergey Surovikin (8 October 2022 – 11 January 2023): previously commander of the Aerospace Forces and Army Group South, replacing Zhidko in overall command.

Russian/affiliated forces in 2023

From 12 January 2023 Army General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff, was appointed as commander of military operations in Ukraine, with Surovikin as his deputy.

The actual operational chain of command of the Russian military effort in Ukraine is not public, changes, and is a mix of state and non-state bodies. Personal rivalries are evident. President Vladimir Putin however remains firmly in control, sometimes micromanaging. The loose connection of various mercenary bodies and Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechens to the official command chain has been represented by placing them under headers separate to the Russian Armed Forces.

Scheduling and control of tactical fighter, ground attack, and strategic bomber "sorties" (one flight of one aircraft) is unclear.

On 18 April 2023, Russian official sources said that President Putin had held meetings in the Kherson area with several commanders. The President "..received reports from the commander of the Dnepr forces grouping, General Lieutenant Oleg Makarevich, the commander of the Vostok [Eastern] forces grouping, General Lieutenant Andrey Kuzmenko, and the deputy commander of the combined grouping, General Colonel Mikhail Teplinsky." The meetings likely took place before April 16.

Mercenaries

Militias

  • Storm Ossetia (Commander: Ayvengo Tekhov )
  • Alania Battalion
  • Hispaniola Battalion
  • Vladlen Tatarsky Battalion

Reserve units of the Russian Armed Forces

Chechens

Spetsnaz units

Clear evidence as to which Grouping of Forces these brigades belong to is not readily available.

Units returned to Russia:

Joint Group of Forces

  • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Donetsk People's Republic (Supreme Commander-in-Chief: Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin)
    • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Donetsk People's Republic People's Militia (Major General Denis Sinenkov)
      • 1st Donetsk Army Corps (Lieutenant General Roman Kutuzov ) (part of Russian armed forces from 31 December 2022) (under command of 8th Combined Arms Army of Southern Military District)
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  1st Separate Guards Motorised Rifle «Slavic» Brigade [ru]
          • 1453rd Regiment
          • 1439th Regiment
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  5th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru]
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  9th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade (formerly 9th Separate Mariupol-Khingan Naval Infantry Regiment [uk])
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  110th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade (formerly 100th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade)
          • Pyatnashka Battalion
        • 114th Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru] (formerly 11th Motor Rifle Regiment (formerly Vostok))
        • 132nd Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru] (formerly 3rd Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru] (Horlivka)
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  14th Guards Artillery «Kalmius» Brigade
        • Assorted regiments and battalions
          • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Republican Guard
          • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Sparta Battalion (Yaroslav Shkurgan , formerly Vladimir Zhoga )
          • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Somalia Battalion (Timur Kurilkin)
          • 23rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Battalion
          • 1454th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment
          • 103rd Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 105th Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 107th Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 109th Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 113rd Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 115th Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 95th Motor Rifle Regiment (formerly 123rd Motor Rifle Regiment)
          • 125th Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 127th Motor Rifle Regiment
  • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Luhansk People's Republic (Supreme Commander-in-Chief: Head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik')
    • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Luhansk People's Republic People's Militia
      • 2nd Guards Lugansk-Severodonetsk Army Corps (part of Russian armed forces from 31 December 2022) (under command of 8th Combined Arms Army of Southern Military District)
        • 4th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru](Colonel Vyacheslav Makarov )
        • 15th Motor Rifle Brigade
        • 85th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade
        • 88th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade
        • 123rd Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade [ru] (formerly 2nd Separate Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade [ru]
        • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  127th Motorised Rifle Brigade (formerly 7th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade [ru]) (Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Vladimirovich Panasyura )
        • 10th Artillery Brigade
        • Cossack Assault Corps
          • 6th Cossack Motorized Rifle Brigade
            • Cossack battalions (Mikhail Kishchik , Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Alexander Kalnitsky )
          • “Don” Cossack Brigade
          • “Siberia” Cossack Brigade
          • “Volga” Cossack Brigade
          • “Terek” Cossack Brigade
        • Assorted regiments and battalions
          • Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine  Prizrak Brigade (Yuri Shevchenko)
          • 202nd Motor Rifle Regiment (disbanded September 2022)
          • 204th Motor Rifle Regiment (disbanded September 2022)
          • 208th "Cossack" Motor Rifle Regiment
          • 254th Motor Rifle Regiment

Ukrainian forces

Senior Ukrainian commanders for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Lieutenant General Yurii Sodol, Commander of the Joint Operational Command

See also

Notes

References

Tags:

Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Russian forces in 2022Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Russianaffiliated forces in 2023Order Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Ukrainian forcesOrder Of Battle For The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

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