the Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska (“airborne forces,” or VDV) are the Kremlin’s expeditionary assault troops, leading the invasions of Afghanistan in 1979 and Crimea in 2014. But are there too ...

While tanks were attached to VDV units on a limited basis during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, this marks the first time main battle tanks have been formally attached to a VDV unit. Interestingly ...

In these close-quarter battles, they have discovered what earlier VDV units learned in Afghanistan - that armoured vehicles designed to be light enough to be carried on planes do not give much ...

Russia is relying on its elite paratroopers, the VDV, to defend against Ukraine's counteroffensive. But these repurposed soldiers have been bruised in combat, and their future is uncertain.

However, in practice they were repeatedly – from Afghanistan to Chechnya – pressed ... at best – two regiments of paratroopers. The VDV, and its specialised air-droppable light armour ...

Russia is using elite paratroopers as regular infantry, the UK MOD said. The VDV force isn't at full strength and is being used to help overstretched Russian lines, it said. The VDV's hierarchy is ...

Vladimir Putin is sending his elite airborne troops into the eastern Donbas region in a bid to repel the Ukrainian counteroffensive, British defence chiefs believe. Yevgeny Prigozhin and the other ...