President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced plans to carry out a transformation of the Assault Forces within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"The necessary transformation of the assault forces will be carried out. There are many questions and problems that need to be resolved. First and foremost, regarding the treatment of people. Law enforcement agencies are taking procedural steps. There will also be changes at the command level of the assault forces," Zelenskyy said in his evening video address on Friday.
As reported earlier, the decision to establish separate assault forces was made in September 2025.
"We have seen the emergence of assault battalions and regiments that have undoubtedly shown good results throughout 2025. So we decided that it is necessary to transition this into a legal framework. The ‘Russians’ decided to do the same thing as us. We are now going to create separate assault forces; this decision has been made. Everything is being prepared now, and I think in about a week to ten days, everything will be operational," Zelenskyy stated at the time, adding that these would be "modern assault forces with a drone component and everything else."
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, stated that during offensives, the Assault Forces are typically deployed as part of forward detachments; they breach the enemy’s first line of defense and secure the entry into battle for air assault or combined arms brigades and battalions.
Speaking on why the Air Assault Forces and the Assault Forces should not be mixed, the Commander-in-Chief emphasized that "they perform different tasks," and also that the Assault Forces "are constantly under my control, under the control of the General Staff; they need to be replenished, they have their own training program, they prepare for upcoming actions, for assault operations, and they must be continuously supplied with modern equipment."
In June 2026, the media outlet "Babel" published an investigation into the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelya," where at least 26 people among the recruits died between late 2025 and the spring of 2026, with the reports indicating that these deaths were not the result of combat actions. Relatives of some of the deceased allege untimely medical assistance and potential violence.
Syrsky called the uncovered story shameful and blamed it on specific individuals whose actions tarnish the achievements of both the regiment itself and the assault forces as a whole. "The combat path of this regiment must not be distorted due to the actions of these individual criminals who cast a shadow over the regiment, the Land Forces in general, the Armed Forces, and the assault forces. On the other hand, of course, there must be control by commanders and relevant authorities, and naturally, there must be oversight from society because if such cases become known, they must not be covered up," he said.
He added that "we will do everything to ensure that all these cases are exposed and all violators, depending on the infraction they committed, are punished."
