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:
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. [1]
Ukrainian military commentator Yuri Butusov listed the following initial March 2022 deployment of Russian/allied forces: [13]
Southwestern Belarus grouping (blocking contingent against Ukrainian forces in Western Ukraine):
Southeastern Belarus grouping (Kyiv offensive direction):
Bryansk grouping (Chernihiv offensive direction):
Kursk – Belgorod grouping (Sumy offensive direction):
Voronezh grouping (Kharkiv offensive direction):
Smolensk grouping (operational reserve of the northern front)
Rostov grouping (Donbas and eastern Sea of Azov offensive direction)
Crimea grouping (southern Ukraine offensive direction):
Kuban grouping (operational reserve of the southern front)
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. [14] President Vladimir Putin was repeatedly reported as taking a very involved stance, sometimes giving orders to field formations. [15]
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.
Since 12 January 2023, Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov was appointed as commander of military operations in Ukraine, with Surovikin as his deputy. [18]
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 [19] 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." [20] The meetings likely took place before April 16.
Clear evidence as to which Grouping of Forces these brigades belong to is not readily available.
Units returned to Russia:
The Russian Airborne Forces is the airborne forces branch of the Russian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1992 from units of the Soviet Airborne Forces that came under Russian control following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, within Russia′s Southern Military District, that was reinstated in 2017 as a successor to the 8th Guards Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army, which was formed during World War II and was disbanded in 1998 after being downsized into a corps. Military Unit в/ч 61877.
The 1st Guards Tank Army is a tank army of the Russian Ground Forces. в/ч 73621.
The 6th Combined Arms Army is a field army of the Red Army and the Soviet Army that was active with the Russian Ground Forces until 1998 and has been active since 2010 as the 6th Combined Arms Army. Military Unit number в/ч 31807.
The 35th Combined Arms Red Banner Army is a field army of the Russian Ground Forces. The army was first formed in July 1941 with the Far Eastern Front. After spending most of World War II guarding the border in Primorsky Krai, the army fought in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945, and was disbanded shortly after the end of the war. Reformed at Belogorsk when Sino-Soviet tensions rose in the late 1960s in the Far East, the army became part of the Eastern Military District in 2010.
The 42nd Guards "Evpatoriyskaya Red Banner" Motor Rifle Division is a Russian military unit.
The 2nd Guards Tank Army was a large military formation of the Red Army and later the Soviet Army, now part of the Russian Ground Forces of the Russian Federation.
The 72nd Mechanized Brigade named after theBlack Zaporozhians is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. It was previously named the 29th Rifle Division and then the 72nd Guards Rifle Division of the Soviet Ground Forces. In 1957, it became a motor rifle division.
The 128th Mountain Assault Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
The 20th Guards Combined Arms Army is a field army. In 1991, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the army became part of the Russian Ground Forces. Military Unit Number в/ч 89425.
The 58th Guards Combined Arms Army is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered at Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, within Russia's Southern Military District. It was formed in 1941 as part of the Soviet Union's Red Army and has been part of the Russian Army since 1995. It has the Military Unit Number (в/ч) is 47084.
The 3rd Shock Army was a field army of the Red Army formed during the Second World War. The "Shock" armies were created with the specific structure to engage and destroy significant enemy forces, and were reinforced with more armoured and artillery assets than other combined arms armies. Where necessary the Shock armies were reinforced with mechanised, tank, and cavalry units. During the Second World War, some Shock armies included armoured trains and air–sled equipped units.
The 97th Guards Mechanized Brigade was a rifle, and then a motor-rifle division of the Soviet Union's Army, before becoming a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, based in Slavuta in western Ukraine.
The 38th Separate Guards Vitebskaya order of Lenin Red Banner order of Suvorov Motor Rifle Brigade is a mechanized infantry brigade of the Russian Ground Forces, part of the Eastern Military District. Military Unit в/ч 21720.
The 20th Guards Carpathian-Berlin Motor Rifle Division is a formation of the Russian Ground Forces, originally formed within the Soviet Red Army as the 3rd Mechanised Corps. The division was reformed in 2021 from the former 20th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade.
The 41st Combined Arms Army is a field army of the Russian Ground Forces, currently part of the Central Military District. Originally, it was formed in 1942 as part of the Soviet Red Army, during World War II. It was reformed in 1998, when the Transbaikal Military District and Siberian Military District were amalgamated.
The Western Military District was a military district of Russia, in existence from 2010 until its abolishment as a unitary military command on February 26, 2024, succeeded by the newly reconstituted Moscow Military District and Leningrad Military District.
The Southern Military District is a military district of Russia.
The Eastern Military District is a military district of Russia.
The 49th Combined Arms Army is a combined arms (field) army (CAA) of the Russian Ground Forces, formed in 2010 and headquartered in Stavropol. Military Unit в/ч 35181.
From open sources, it is known about 20 FSB and FSO officers who died during the invasion of Ukraine. Most of these losses are employees of the border troops who are subordinate to the FSB. However, there are among the dead and officers of the most secret units.
General Magomed Tushaev died when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel.
ISW previously observed elements of the 80th Motorized Rifle Brigade (14th Army Corps, Northern Fleet) operating on the left bank in July 2023, and November 28 reports of 14th Army Corps Deputy Commander Major General Vladimir Zavadsky's death in the Kherson direction suggests that these elements may still be in the area.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The SBU posted images on Telegram of a group of Ukrainian soldiers with the caption: "Specialists of the SBU's special operations center 'A' in Kupyansk, which was and always will be Ukrainian!"
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)