The Ukrainian army regularly declares that it has “erased” Russia’s elite paratrooper brigades. However, after each such announcement, the unit immediately reappears.
Russian paratrooper units were repeatedly said to have been “erased” by Ukraine
Ukrainian and Western media appear to be stepping up a deliberate propaganda campaign, and the Russian airborne forces (or paratroopers, abbreviated as VDV) are among the most frequently mentioned, with the 11th Guards Assault Brigade and the 31st Guards Assault Brigade, for example, having been “destroyed multiple times” by the Ukrainian army.
For relatively large units such as the 7th Mountain Air Assault Division, the 76th Guards Air Assault Division and the 98th Guards Airborne Division, it would be an exaggeration to say that they were destroyed, so the Ukrainian military uses the words “heavy losses” or “loss of combat effectiveness”.
Although the 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade (hereinafter referred to as the 83rd Brigade) is not the Russian VDV unit that the Ukrainian army has declared “eliminated” the most, it is the unit with 6 officers of the rank of colonel or higher, including 3 deputy brigade commanders, who died in combat. This has made the Ukrainian media excited to report on it many times.
The fact that the Ukrainian army was able to inflict damage on Russia’s most elite forces proves that it has strong combat effectiveness, which is a dense propaganda topic in the media, and it is understandable.
The history of the 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade can be traced back to November 1985, when it was designated the 65th Separate Air Assault Battalion. The unit was formed based on the 126th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the 6th Guards Motorized Rifle Division of the Northern Military District of the USSR.
From May to November 1986, the battalion was expanded into the 83rd Independent Airborne Assault Brigade. On May 18, 1990, the brigade was transferred to the Airborne Command and reorganized into the 83rd Independent Airborne Brigade. In July of the same year, the brigade was transferred to Ussuriysk in the Far Eastern Military District.
On February 1, 1996, the brigade was removed from the Airborne Command and transferred to the Far Eastern Military District. During the 2002 exercises, the brigade successfully coordinated with the marines southwest of Vladivostok, earning a commendation from Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
On December 1, 2013, the Brigade was re-assigned to the Airborne Command of the Russian Army. On March 25, 2015, the Brigade was awarded the title of Honorary Guard.
The 83rd Air Assault Brigade currently has three airborne battalions, the 598th, 635th, and 654th, a tank battalion, and the 9th artillery battalion.
Combat achievements of Brigade 83
Although the 83rd Brigade was not the first VDV unit to enter the Ukrainian battlefield, it was the first frontline strategic reserve force to have an officer killed, that was Deputy Brigade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Slabzo in the incident that occurred on March 24, 2022, one month after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.
The 83rd Brigade then took part in the assault on the city of Bakhmut, a campaign comparable to the Verdun campaign in World War I and the Stalingrad campaign in World War II in terms of brutality.
During the operation, the 83rd Brigade was primarily responsible for protecting the flanks of the Russian army advancing into the city. The urban street battles resulted in heavy casualties for both Russia and Ukraine. The unit alone lost six senior commanding officers in combat.
As early as September 16, 2023, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrsky announced that, after fighting in the area east of Bakhmut, three elite Russian units, the 72nd Motorized Infantry Brigade, the 31st Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 83rd Air Assault Brigade, had been “defeated and completely lost their combat effectiveness”.
On June 27, Forbes ( USA ) military columnist David Axe wrote: “The Russian army may have lost the entire elite 83rd Independent Air Assault Brigade, in the attack on the city of Volchansk in Kharkov province, Ukraine in May.”
However, the strange thing is that whenever Ukraine claims to have destroyed an elite Russian unit, these units soon reappear on the battlefield.
And in fact, by July 11, after repelling Kiev forces north of Volchansk, Russian units had rushed across the Volchya River to capture and expand the bridgehead, creating a springboard for further advances in the coming days.
