31st guards air assault brigade

31st Guards Air Assault Brigade - In the remote plains on the Belarus-Ukraine border, on the morning of February 24, hundreds of rebel soldiers from Russia's 31st Air Defense Forces boarded a helicopter they believed was headed for a Prova training ground in western Belarus.

But as the units took off, senior officers turned to the men to tell them they were at war with Ukraine.

31st Guards Air Assault Brigade

Instead of Grodno, they entered Ukrainian airspace on their way to Hostomel Airport near Kyiv.

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Nikita Ponomarev, a lone soldier who was later captured by the Ukrainians, "The army was shocked, people turned gray, especially considering that we shot into the air."

In the 100 days since the surprise attack on Hostomel, Russia's war against Ukraine has changed from this style of quick maneuvers to an artillery battle and an advanced Russian offensive in the east of the country.

Similarly, the 31st Air Assault Command - the Air Force's top command based in the Ulyanovsk region in southern Russia - has been anxiously crossing Ukraine as Moscow's goal is reset on the Frontline with Ukrainian opposition.

To tell the story of the war so far, The Moscow Times recreates the movements of the 31st Brigade during 100 days of brutal fighting in Ukraine that has left thousands dead and millions displaced.

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The 31st, which previously fought in the Second Chechen War and the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict, suffered heavy casualties in Ukraine and faced widespread logistical and morale problems that exemplify Russia's often inept campaign.

The renegade soldier was one of the first Russian soldiers to see action in Ukraine when he sped into Hostomel airport on February 24 and burst onto the runway, where the parking and airport buildings are.

Ukraine offered to defend Hostomel despite the scale of the Russian attack, ultimately preventing Moscow's forces from capturing the airport.

Attacking deep behind enemy lines was typical of the Air Force in the early days of the war, according to military analyst Rob Lee. "They are used to seize airfields, important terrain and targets," Li told The Moscow Times.

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If the attack had been successful, Russia would have used Hostomel's long runway to fly in additional units and supplies in large Il-76 transport aircraft.

While the threat of Ukrainian air defense systems prevented Russian transport planes from flying into Hostomel, Russian ground forces dug in around the airport and waited for reinforcements believed to be flown north from Belarus.

A CNN report on the first day of the attack appeared to show that units of the 31st were transporting children. Weapons and white shirts set up security in the airport area.

But what we know about the dynamics of the Russian attack on Hostomel comes from an interview with the prisoner of the 31st brigade who captured Ponomarev, who was later interviewed by a famous Ukrainian blogger who published a video of a Russian prisoner.

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Accessories and reinforcements are expected to arrive within 24 hours, according to Ponomarev, but it will take longer.

Although the airport is still not secure, Russian tanks and armored vehicles are flooding into northern Ukraine, heading for Kyiv. In a dramatic speech on February 25, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia against "trying to invade the capital".

Ponomarev recalls that the next morning there was a bad feeling in the air in Hostomel. Suddenly, Ukrainian artillery shelled the building. The attack lasted 2 hours, killing dozens of soldiers and destroying much equipment. "There is nothing left - not even a gun turret," Ponomarev said. "Almost nobody survived that day."

Russia has been reluctant to release official death tolls or confirm deaths to relatives since the beginning of the war, making it impossible to know which men from the 31st Division died in the fighting at Hostomel airfield.

Army Brigade Hi Res Stock Photography And Images

A total of 34 rebel soldiers from the 31st Brigade died between February 25 and March 7, according to reports. The event on Wednesday of the independent media Mediazona.

One of the dead in Hostomel is 31-year-old General Ilnur Sibgatullin from Nizhnekamsk, a small town in the Republic of Tatarstan. At Sibgatullin's funeral in his hometown, six days after the invasion began, his former teacher described him as "a kind boy, who brings joy to your soul".

Stationed in the Volga River region of Ulyanovsk since 1993, the 31st is one of Russia's elite military units. . According to analyst Lee's estimate of the strength of the Russian army, on the 31st it is expected that about 2,000 men will fight in Ukraine.

Despite initial losses, the 31st was quickly thrown into a Russian ground offensive that attempted to encircle Kyiv in early March.

File:russian 31st Airborne Brigade Patch.svg

They were among the units deployed to take the nearby town of Hostomel, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US military think tank.

"Russia's elite forces have taken a heavy toll," said Nick Reynolds, a military analyst at London-based think tank RUSI, of the civil war that has ensued as Ukraine tries to stem Russia's advance.

While 50 activists from the 31st were killed in Hostomel, according to the Ukrainian intelligence service. Photos show the bodies of the 31 soldiers strewn on the pavement and the battlefield, as well as the burning tank.

The loss of the 31st brigade in the Battle of Hostomel was reported by senior officers Colonel Sergei Karasev and General Alexei Osokin.

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Osokin is "one of the best," Radik Zalalov, a soldier with 31 wounds who is being treated in a Belarusian hospital, told The Moscow Times on social media.

Officially, Russia has reported the deaths of 1,351 of its soldiers in Ukraine, less than half the total reported by independent media citing open source data. According to military analyst Michael Kofman, at least 10,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine.

Using local media reports and interviews with relatives of the deceased, The Moscow Times has identified at least 38 members of the 31st who died in Ukraine, although the actual number is much higher.

Hundreds of Russian vehicles and soldiers evacuated Hostomel airport as Ukrainian artillery units began targeting the airport on 27 February. This raises the question of who/how the Antonov An-225 Mriya was destroyed as the aircraft was clearly visible in the video. pic.twitter.com/rIwytnOkMb — CaucasusWarReport (@Caucasuswar) May 31, 2022

Airborne Troops Hold Drill In Ulyanovsk

After Ukraine repelled a Russian invasion of Kyiv last March, the Kremlin opted to withdraw the Russian military and strategy — including the 31st — from northern Ukraine on April 1.

The retreat has allowed Russia to turn its attention to eastern Ukraine, where it is trying to encircle the Ukrainian-held Donbass region by advancing north from separatist-held Donetsk and south from Izyum in northeastern Ukraine.

Parts of the 31st Brigade have been redeployed around Izyum, 120 kilometers south of Kharkiv, according to a fellow soldier in the brigade.

The remnants of two 31st Battalion tactical battalions that clashed around Kyiv may be included in one of the BTGs to the east, according to analyst Lee.

Air Assault Brigade Png Images

The details of the 31st's activities in the third month of the war are harder to determine, but friends of the 31st division's soldiers said part of the 31st division took part in the attack on the strategic Russian city of Severodonetsk in late May.

More than 80 percent of the city of Severodonetsk is now under Russian control, Luhansk Mayor Sergei Haidai said this week, as the city appeared on the brink of collapse.

According to other reports from the front, the 31st apparently suffered from low hardship and insufficient supplies of food and equipment after its deployment in eastern Ukraine.

"Salaries are not collected. There is no drinking water, toilets or electricity in the camp. They [soldiers] have to wear tweezers,” Denis Tokarev, a former 31st soldier still in contact with the military in Ukraine, told The Moscow Times. "The people of the [neighboring Russian] region of Belgorod brought them food, water and supplies."

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Specifically, the boxing union in Ulyanovsk asked locals to donate equipment for delivery by the 31st. One of the union's social media posts in April promised that the next batch of aid for the army "will include equipment."

According to the Ukrainian military, 25 soldiers of the 31st even refused to return to the part of Eastern Ukraine. The Moscow Times was unable to verify this claim.

Back home in Ulyanovsk, the most visible reminder of the loss suffered on the 31st is the town's cemetery. A photo shared in May by Russia's Military Women's Committee shows a grave. At least 42 fresh, piled with roses and roses.

While polls show support for Putin's war in Ukraine remains high among Russians, the death of a young soldier on the 31st has caused pain - and some questions - for his friends and relatives.

Th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division

Under the announcement of the recent death of Captain Adam Khamkhoev by the 31st user he wrote: "Why are Buryats, Dagestanis, Russians from the hinterland dying in Ukraine? Where from Moscow and St. It turns out that ordinary people kill, and the rich - with

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