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“Space Infantry” Sent to Defend Kursk Region Amid Russia’s Personnel Shortage
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![Olga_gordiienko]( "Olga Gordiienko")
The Russian military has resorted to deploying personnel from Aerospace Forces units, including those from nuclear strike warning stations and heavy bomber regiments, to defend the Kursk region due to a severe shortage of motorized riflemen.
Аccording to a report by the Russian media outlet Vazhnye Istorii, citing a source, reveals that the Russian command created a motorized rifle regiment composed of Aerospace Forces servicemen between May and June to bolster the border protection group. This “space infantry” arrived in the border areas just weeks before the Ukrainian Armed Forces' surprise incursion in the Kursk region on August 6.
The source details that the regiment comprises soldiers from guard companies, engineers, mechanics, and a small number of flight crew officers. These personnel were transferred from airbases such as “Ukrainka” in the Altai Krai, “Bila” in the Irkutsk region, and “Engels” in the Saratov region, all of which are home to Tu-22M and Tu-95 heavy bombers used to launch missiles over Ukrainian cities.
The reallocated forces also include military personnel from one of Russia’s cosmodromes, special warehouse staff from the Aerospace Forces, and personnel from Voronezh radar stations—critical facilities placed along Russia’s borders to warn of a nuclear strike.
The report indicates that the “space infantry” is already sustaining losses. Notably, 22-year-old Ilya Romanov, who was transferred from the 28th Arsenal of the Space Forces in the Tambov region, went missing in action during battles near Koreniv. This location is a top-secret facility where missiles and satellites are stored.
Additionally, motorized riflemen from the Aerospace Forces were likely in the convoy of equipment destroyed by a HIMARS strike near Rylsk, Kursk region, on the night of August 9. On the same day, 22-year-old Air Force Sergeant Vyacheslav Bondarenko, who had been transferred from the heavy bomber air base in the Amur region, was wounded in this area.
PHOTO FROM SOCIAL NETWORKS
Earlier, the Institute for the Study of War recently analyzed Ukraine’s operations in the Kursk region, illustrating how Ukrainian forces are employing maneuver warfare tactics to offset Russia’s numerical superiority in manpower and equipment.
The Ukrainian military has an advance of one to three kilometers in some directions of the frontline and is replenishing the exchange fund, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.
