Territorial troops first seized, now assaulting—Ukraine’s infantry crisis goes critical

Despite official denial, lightly armed Ukrainian territorials have indeed been ordered to attack better-equipped Russian troops The 108th Territorial Defense Brigade was observed on the attack in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in recent days Territorials are for defending, not attacking—and their commanders resist efforts to send them on dangerous assault operations Internal friction between elite assault units and territorial defenders is worsening as commanders scramble for manpower

On 5 January, assault troops from the Ukrainian 225th Assault Regiment detained soldiers from the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and forced them to undergo retraining.

Days later, officials promised the territorials would not be used for assault operations.

Days after that, they were caught on camera doing exactly that.

The incident exposes a deepening manpower crisis along Ukraine's 1,100-km front line. With too few trained assault troops to cover simultaneous Russian advances, commanders are pressing lightly-equipped territorial defenders into offensive roles they were never designed to fill—a sign of just how stretched Ukraine's infantry has become nearly three years into Russia's full-scale invasion.

Territorials filmed assaulting Russian positions

On or around 9 January, the Ukrainian Deep State analysis group observed members of the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade assaulting Russian troops in the village of Pryluky, a few kilometers north of the town of Huliaipole—the locus of fighting in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine.

According to @Deepstate_UA, the 🇺🇦108th Territorial Defense Brigade faced internal challenges & misunderstandings during joint training with the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, leading to temporary conflicts and miscommunications, though the issues have been largely resolved, ⬇️ https://t.co/16xJxUbv3B pic.twitter.com/gkQF1LVUaM

— Sitrep Links ENG (@SitrepLinksENG) January 10, 2026

The territorials weren't alone. They fought alongside members of the 142nd Mechanized Brigade, a unit with more intensive training and heavier equipment. The combined assault reportedly succeeded in stabilizing the front line threading through Pryluky.

But territorials were never meant for this role. They are designed to hold defensive positions for months or years at a time. They defend. Assault troops are meant to conduct swift, violent counterattacks—and then withdraw. They attack. Asking defensive troops to fight like offensive troops risks losing those troops in failed operations.

"Although these fighters reportedly underwent additional training at the training center of the 225th Assault Regiment, it remains striking that the main assault operations are being carried out not by dedicated assault units, but by territorial defense personnel, whose doctrinal role is to secure positions and hold the second line of defense," the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team noted.

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The confrontation between the two Ukrainian units began in late December, when the 17th Army Corps ordered the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade—holding positions around Mala Tokmachka, 20 km west of Huliaipole—to form a new combat group under the command of the 225th Assault Regiment.

The territorials weren't ready. The order "met with strong resistance from the officer and [non-commissioned officer] cadre of the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade," observer Thorkill noted, "and the formation of the combat group was continuously postponed to subsequent days."

The assault troops wouldn't wait. "The impatient command of the 225th Assault Regiment decided to enforce its execution by force," Thorkill reported. On 5 January, masked assault troops threatened 108th soldiers and "extracted" them by truck from their positions.

Pryluky on a map

225th Assault Regiment commander Oleh Shyriaev denied any wrongdoing. "Nobody kidnapped" the territorials, he claimed. "Nobody threatened them."

Some of the transferred soldiers returned to their home brigade within days. But around 20 remained under the command of the 225th, undergoing additional training, Southern Defense Forces spokesman Vladyslav Voloshyn told Militaryland.

"There are no plans to involve them in assault operations," Voloshyn insisted. Military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova, who convened an online meeting with all parties on 7 January, said the situation was under control.

Within days, the retrained territorials were caught on camera assaulting Russian positions near Pryluky.

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The friction between assault forces and territorials follows a pattern of blame-shifting that obscures Ukraine's fundamental manpower shortage.

When Russian forces broke through near Huliaipole in December, Commander-in-Chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi openly criticized the battered, lightly-equipped 102nd and 106th Territorial Defense Brigades, whose outnumbered troops ultimately could not stave off relentless attacks from the much better-armed Russian 57th Motor Rifle Brigade.

Syrskyi is wrong to blame the territorials, CIT argued. "The main problem of the Territorial Defense Forces has been the lack of proper reinforcements and exhaustion after prolonged combat operations."

The scapegoating had real consequences. In the following weeks, the 225th Assault Regiment busied itself not by fighting the Russians—but by clashing with fellow Ukrainian forces.

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The apparent assault by the 108th Territorial Defense Brigade prolongs a worsening crisis for Kyiv. While Ukrainian forces advance through Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast and mostly hold off Russian advances around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast, they're falling back in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast.

Losing more troops to desertion and Russian action every month than they can recruit or mobilize, Ukrainian forces are in a manpower death spiral. It's not for no reason that Ukrainian brigades' defensive strategies now revolve around drones, artillery, and mines rather than infantry.

Ukraine's TDF crisis at a glance ~40 soldiers from 108th TDF taken by 225th Assault Regiment on 5 January ~20 remain under 225th command for "additional training" 8 January: Officials promise retrained soldiers will NOT conduct assault operations ~9 January: 108th TDF soldiers filmed assaulting Russian positions near Pryluky Huliaipole: Once a Ukrainian strongpoint, now fully contested or Russian-controlled <20 km: Distance from Zaporizhzhia city to the front line

Likewise, it's not for no reason that Russian forces—who consistently recruit more fresh troops than they lose every month—are on the offensive in most sectors. Russia can still afford to lose people. Ukraine cannot.

That manpower disparity is widening the rift between first- and second-line Ukrainian troops. The new independent assault forces, which answer directly to Syrskyi, are stretched thin as they deploy and redeploy between sectors in a desperate bid to blunt simultaneous Russian advances.

A clutch of assault units, including the 225th Assault Regiment, raced from Donetsk to Zaporizhzhia late last year in an effort to roll back Russian infiltration in Huliaipole—once an important strongpoint standing between a powerful Russian motor rifle division and the city of Zaporizhzhia and its 700,000 residents.

But the assault troops were too few and too late. Huliaipole is now fully contested, if not under Russian control. The city of Zaporizhzhia itself is now less than 20 km from the line of contact.

As Russia's wider war grinds toward its fifth year, Ukraine simply has too few troops. Unless and until Kyiv can recruit or mobilize more infantry, its forces will almost certainly continue losing ground—and probably continue blaming each other when they do.

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