Ground Forces
Combined-arms armies providing the bulk of the invasion's manpower.
Broad area of activity
Combined-arms armies across the entire front, from the northern border axes to the Donbas and the southern land bridge.
Notable history
Planned for a days-long operation and got an attritional war: the 2022 drives on Kyiv, Kharkiv and the south consumed its professional core, and mobilisation refilled the ranks at lower quality. Adapted from failed battalion-group manoeuvre to assault-detachment infantry tactics backed by artillery mass, glide bombs and drones — an approach that takes ground slowly and at documented heavy cost in men and equipment.
Strengths
Mass — in manpower, tube artillery and refurbished armour reserves; deep fortification engineering, proven in 2023; an ammunition base extended by North Korean supply; a publicly assessed willingness to sustain exceptionally high losses.
Limitations
Quality dilution after years of attrition of experienced cadres; documented equipment losses force reactivation of ever-older storage stock; tactical rigidity at the lower levels; assault tempo is bought with casualty rates that are publicly assessed as historically exceptional.
Subordinate & associated
- Moscow Military DistrictFormation
- Leningrad Military DistrictFormation
- Southern Military DistrictFormation
- Central Military DistrictFormation
- Eastern Military DistrictFormation
Documented equipment
Related locations
Nizhny Tagil (Uralvagonzavod): Home of the Uralvagonzavod plant — the industrial base behind the force's armour fleet.