Oleksandr Shpak ("Boiets"), Commander of the 1st Assault Battalion, 425th Separate Assault Regiment ‘Skelya", Hero of Ukraine
Lately, assault units have been the subject of much discussion. More and more often, people are quick to pass judgment. Some even call them "butchers." They say assault troops simply "send people to their deaths."
Most often, such statements come from people who have never witnessed how an assault operation is prepared. Because if they had seen even one such operation from beginning to end, they would understand that the commander's greatest concern before an assault is not how to capture a tree line, but how to bring his men back alive.
I command an assault battalion of the Skelya Regiment, and I want to explain what the training of an assault soldier actually looks like and why assault troops are needed at this stage of the war. I believe I have the right to do so because I began my service in the unit back in 2022 as an ordinary assault soldier.
Becoming an Assault Soldier
There is one thing that very few people understand: assault soldiers are not born — they are made. They are ordinary civilians who go through a long training process.
Motivation plays a crucial role in that process. The people joining the military today are very different from those who joined in 2022. Back then, many enlisted voluntarily. Today, a significant share of mobilized personnel does not even understand why they are here at first.
Many arrive without an inner readiness for military service or war. That is why a commander's primary task today is not to teach a person how to shoot, but first to explain what they are fighting for. Only then does training begin.
In practice, we shape a soldier from the ground up. We teach discipline, teamwork, weapons handling, and responsibility for one's brothers-in-arms. We develop psychological readiness for combat. All of this takes time. A good assault soldier cannot be made in a week. It takes no less than two months.
Newly mobilized soldiers often behave like children who need to be taught. Just as we teach children how to eat, sit, and stand properly, we teach newly arrived servicemen how to shoot, move, and work together. We mentor recruits patiently, explaining everything step by step. That is the only way to produce a trained soldier capable of carrying out missions.
A commander is not what people often imagine, either. In the military, there is a common joke that a commander is "like a mother," and there is truth in that saying. A commander should never see himself as a king. Leadership does not exist so that someone can wear higher rank. A commander is there to provide a soldier with everything he needs, train him, and bring him back alive after the mission. Once a commander begins placing himself above his people, he ceases to be a commander. I have seen examples of how the Skelya Regiment dismiss such "commanders" — they were either transferred to other military units or taken into custody by law enforcement authorities.
The Role of an Assault Soldier
Today, many people do not understand the role of an assault soldier in combat. There is a perception that this is a soldier who is constantly fighting from a trench.
In reality, an assault soldier has a different mission: to enter a designated area, drive the enemy out, clear a building, a street, a settlement, or a fortified enemy position. After that, the position must be handed over to a follow-on force — that is, to another unit that is responsible for maintaining the defense.
And this is where the biggest problem often arises. If the relieving unit arrives, the system works. But quite often, the brigades in whose area of responsibility we operate are not eager to take over positions that have been retaken. If assault troops have to wait several days to be relieved, they are no longer doing their own job. Instead, they are forced to dig trenches, build shelters, remain under constant attacks by Russian drones, and gradually lose their combat effectiveness.
As a result, we lose both people and the momentum of the offensive.
No assault begins with the words, "Let's move forward!". Everything starts with preparation, reconnaissance, and planning. We gather intelligence on enemy positions, movement routes, and reserves. UAVs and reconnaissance units are at work, while intercepted communications are analyzed. The enemy's logistics routes are mined to prevent rapid reinforcement. Combat engineers prepare the route. Artillery and drones prepare the battlefield. Only then does the assault soldier begin to move. Our primary task is not to seize a tree line at any cost, but to accomplish the mission and bring our soldiers back alive.
The Future of Assault Units
For almost a year now, both society and the military have been debating the place of assault units within the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Where should assault units fit: within the Ground Forces as a separate branch, or under the command of army corps?
This is certainly not a question for battalion commanders to decide. That is the responsibility of the General Staff and the senior military leadership. We, as soldiers, will carry out whatever decision is made.
But there is another question that matters much more to me. It is not who an assault regiment reports to. It is how it is employed.
An assault unit should not be used as ordinary infantry holding the same section of the front line for months on end.
Our mission is different. We are a mobile reserve that rapidly reinforces critical sectors, conducts assault and counter-assault operations, changes the situation on the battlefield —including through the extensive use of high-tech combat systems — and, once the mission is complete, withdraws for recovery and preparation for the next operation.
Modern warfare has long ceased to be a war in which victory is determined solely by the number of troops. It has become a war of planning, technology, drones, logistics, and command and control. Victory belongs to the side that analyzes the situation faster, coordinates its forces more effectively, and imposes its own tempo on the enemy.
That is why the future of assault units will not be determined by a new name or by their place within the organizational structure of the Armed Forces, but by how effectively these units are employed for the missions they were created to perform.
Disband or Keep
There are also calls to do away with assault regiments altogether. Some argue that the experiment has failed. These claims are mistaken.
No army has ever won a war by being capable only of defending. Defense can buy time, but victory comes from the ability to seize the initiative, launch counterattacks, regain lost positions, and liberate territory.
Think back to the successful operations of 2022 — the liberation of the Kharkiv region and Kherson—as well as the breakthrough into historically Ukrainian territory in the Sudzha area in 2024. Those operations were built around assault actions. That is precisely why assault units exist. The need for well-trained infantry capable of conducting assaults and consolidating the gains they achieve has not disappeared.
It is equally important to understand that a modern assault regiment is no longer simply infantry. It is a comprehensive, high-tech combat system. Alongside assault units operate UAV operators, artillery, armored vehicles, combat engineers, robotic systems units, reconnaissance, logistics, and command-and-control elements. It is this integration that makes it possible to accomplish combat missions with the lowest possible losses.
If assault battalions are left to operate on their own, without their own supporting assets, they will become far more dependent on other units. On today's battlefield, any delay in fire support, reconnaissance, or evacuation is almost always paid for with human lives.
To sum up, assault troops and the units they serve in may be called by different names. But for me, there is only one measure of our work: whether the mission was accomplished and whether we brought our people home alive.
If, after every operation, we have brought all our people back, advanced forward, and brought Ukraine closer to victory, then we have done our job right.
That is the philosophy of a Ukrainian assault soldier.
