The Russian army has a new type of troops – unmanned systems troops (USS), which Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to create last year, Russian media reported citing Colonel Sergei Ishtuganov, deputy chief of the new type of troops.
According to Ishtuganov, the Russian Defence Ministry has defined the structure and created full-time regiments and other units of the BPS troops, which work “in cooperation with other units of troop groups.”
“The build-up of the combat composition of the existing and the creation of new units of the BPS troops continues. We are appointing operators, engineers, technicians and other support specialists to the units,” Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted Ishtuganov as saying.
Ishtuganov himself was involved in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine from 2022 as deputy commander of the Russian 31st Independent Guards Airborne Airborne Assault Brigade when the brigade fought near Gostomel and Volnovakha. Subsequently, it was reported that the brigade suffered heavy losses in the battles for Bakhmut. State news agency TASS wrote that the 104th Guards Airborne Assault Division was created on its basis.
In April 2024, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said that the military of the 104th division was involved in the shooting of three Ukrainian prisoners near the village of Krynki in the Kherson region.
Ukrainian investigative project Evocation wrote that Ishtuganov had ordered the shootings “to intimidate the AFU fighters”.
Speaking about the formation of UAV forces in December 2024, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov promised to complete their formation in the third quarter of 2025 and noted that the new troops would be created on Putin’s instructions.
Ukraine has had an unmanned systems force since the beginning of 2024 under a decree issued by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.