Russian paratroopers.
Russian government photo
The 104th Air Assault Division was supposed to save the Russian campaign on the left bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.
Instead, the newly formed division suffered “extraordinarily heavy casualties and failed to achieve its objectives in its combat debut,” according to the British Ministry of Defense reported.
Two months ago, Ukrainian Marines from the 35th Brigade crossed the Dnipro and, under the cover of artillery, drones and intense radio interference, secured a bridgehead in the settlement of Krynky on the otherwise Russian-controlled left bank.
It's a new front in the war – one that the Ukrainians want to exploit at some point to drive the Russian occupiers out of southern Ukraine.
The Russian marines, reinforced by a motorized army regiment, were unable to drive out the Ukrainians. After cursory training in September and October, the Airborne Corps' 104th Division arrived in southern Ukraine – and took charge.
The 104th, the new fifth division of a normally four-division Russian airborne corps, was intended to offset the corps' heavy losses in the first 22 months of Russia's larger war against Ukraine.
Instead, the approximately 2,000-strong division itself fell victim to an escalating war of attrition. The division “was reportedly inadequately supported by air power and artillery, while many of the troops were most likely inexperienced,” the ministry in London said.
It is unclear how many Ukrainian marines are in Krynky and the surrounding forests. Some Russian sources estimate the landing force at just 200 or 300 Marines.
These hundreds of Marines – and the drone pilots, artillery gunners and electronic warfare troops who support them – withstood thousands of Russians. First Marines of the 810th Brigade. Then soldiers of the 70th Motor Rifle Division. And now the paratroopers of the 104th Division.
It is no longer a secret how the Ukrainians persevered despite being heavily outnumbered and subjected to relentless bombardment from the ground and air. In the weeks before the 35th Brigade crossed the Dnipro, Ukrainian gunners and drone teams attacked Russian radio jammers on the left bank, while Ukrainian EW specialists set up their own jammers.
The result is a dead zone over Krynky for Russian drones – a free fire zone for Ukrainian drones. Vehicles and infantry will be hit from the air within minutes of breaking cover. “The situation in the Krynky region is getting worse for us,” a Russian observer said wrote.
That the Ukrainian Marines are holding on in Krynky and defeating the 104th Division does not mean that they are about to break into the southern Kherson Oblast and flee toward Crimea. In the weeks since the peak of the Kiev counteroffensive in the south, Ukrainian brigades have shifted from offense to defense after their offensive combat power was exhausted.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have gone on the attack – and are having better luck in the east, where Russian supply lines are scarce, than in the south, where people and supplies have to be transported hundreds of kilometers by rail.
But by holding on to Krynky, the Ukrainians open up the possibility of eventually launching an offensive from this bridgehead.
This possibility is obviously very important for the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev. It is clear that Ukrainian leaders have focused many of their best radio jammers and a significant portion of their explosives-laden drones on the Krynky fight. Perhaps at the expense of defense efforts in eastern sectors, such as around Avdiivka.
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