Russian infantry groups on the Pokrovsk axis are moving with two radios, says Dmytro Kushka, Chief of Staff of the 152nd Separate Ranger Brigade. According to him, the first radio Russia uses to pass through a specific section of the front line.
“The second one is used once he finds some kind of ‘burrow’. From that position, he corrects fire from the shelter using a different radio," Kushka explains.
This tactic allows Russian troops to operate even with small forces, while remaining dangerous to forward Ukrainian positions.
Strikes on Ukraine's logistics are the priority
Kushka notes that Russian forces pay particular attention to the logistics of Ukrainian ranger units. This includes not only attempts to destroy drones or weapons, but deliberate efforts to leave infantry without food and basic supplies.
At the same time, Russian forces have repeatedly tried to deploy sabotage and reconnaissance groups deep into the rear of Ukraine’s Defense Forces in order to create chaos, disorient command, and force Ukrainian units to stretch their manpower.
Prisoners under 20 from Russia
Recently, according to Kushka, two Russian infantry soldiers were taken prisoner and turned out to be reconnaissance fighters. Both were under 20, physically fit, motivated, and well-equipped.
This, the officer emphasizes, undermines the perception that Russia sends only poorly trained mobilized troops to the front. Instead, it points to the systematic preparation of a younger generation of soldiers, trained in modern methods of warfare.
A new generation of fighters in Pokrovsk
Kushka also described his personal conversations with the prisoners. One of them said he had come to “avenge his brother.”
“I asked him a logical question: do you understand that your brother did not come to his own home? But it was ‘a sacred war, Nazism,’ and so on,” Kushka recalls.
According to him, Russian soldiers do not always explicitly repeat propaganda slogans, but their beliefs and motivations clearly show that they are sincerely convinced they are fighting “enemies” on “their own land.”
“They don’t always say it outright, but from their motives and views, it’s clear. They are convinced that there are enemies here. That we attacked them, and they are coming to liberate their historical land,” the battalion chief of staff explains.
The capture of young, well-trained reconnaissance soldiers indicates that Russia is deliberately forming a new generation of military personnel, rather than merely compensating for losses through mass mobilization.
Their conviction that they are “liberating their land” demonstrates the effectiveness of Russian propaganda, which distorts reality, devalues Ukrainian lives, and lowers the psychological barrier to violence, both against military personnel and civilians.
