Russians setting up assault units consisting of officers - General Staff

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky ordered to create assault units from among servicemen holding officer ranks.

This was stated by the spokesman for the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Andriy Kovaliov, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In general, General Teplinsky, who currently holds the position of commander of Russia’s Dnepro occupation grouping of troops does not enjoy authority among Russian army personnel. Among other things, his subordinates say that he has no regard for their lives. That’s actually a rather mundane and prosaic situation for Russian commanders," he said.

Separately, the spokesman noted that General Teplinsky had issued an order to form assault units from among Russian officers.

"These are a kind of strike battalions, modeled after the White Guard units from the 1920s. The main criteria for the officers to be assigned to the assault units are their inability to command subordinates, lack of personal discipline, and weak motivation," Kovalev said.

Earlier, Kovaliov said that in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Russian invasion force is experiencing a shortage of officers of more than 60%, and in Crimea it’s 30%.