Founding and reorganization The
dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the dividing up of the former
Soviet Armed Forces by the newly independent states. The Russian Airborne Forces were established on 7 May 1992 by a decree from the
President of the Russian Federation,
Boris Yeltsin. He held a meeting with the heads of state of
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and
Uzbekistan to determine the distribution of former Soviet military assets. During 1992 and 1993 many of the airborne units were transferred to the territory of Russia, as only two of the seven Soviet airborne divisions had been located in the former
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. During this process the
Russian General Staff wanted to prioritize maintaining control over the strategic assets of the Soviet military, which besides the
Strategic Rocket Forces also included the Airborne Forces. There was initially an attempt to keep them under the joint command of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but the concept of the CIS unified forces fell apart by the summer of 1993, as the independent states took control over the units on their territories. The Russian Federation kept six of the seven divisions, which as of 1993 included: •
7th Guards Airborne Division – moved from
Lithuania to
Novorossiysk. •
44th Training Airborne Division – moved from Lithuania to
Omsk. •
76th Guards Airborne Division (
Pskov Oblast) •
98th Guards Airborne Division – moved from
Ukraine to
Ivanovo. Part of it stayed and became the nucleus of the
1st Airmobile Division,
Ukrainian Airmobile Forces. •
104th Guards Airborne Division – moved from
Azerbaijan to
Ulyanovsk. •
106th Guards Airborne Division (
Tula and
Ryazan) The remaining division, the
103rd Guards Airborne Division, became part of the
Belarusian Ground Forces. Russia also received seven The two main training establishments of the VDV were in Ryazan and Omsk: the
Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School and the
242nd Training Center of the Airborne Forces, which was formed in Omsk on the basis of the training division. The end of the
Cold War brought up questions about the continued role and purpose of the Airborne Forces. With the possibility of large airborne operations unlikely (the VDV had not carried out a parachute assault since
World War II), there were proposals to disband it or absorb its units into other service branches. As a strategic reserve, the VDV was also outside the control of military district commanders. It did provide a rapid response force that could quickly be deployed to conflict zones by aircraft faster than regular Ground Forces units. Another role of the VDV in the 1990s was also peacekeeping. A new VDV formation was also established in 1994, the
45th Spetsnaz Regiment. One of the groups was commanded by the VDV general
Nikolai Staskov, who was nearly killed by a grenade during the fighting in Grozny. The
1st Separate Airborne Brigade was established for this purpose, from units of the 76th and 98th GAD, and arrived in Bosnia in January 1996, to be part of
Multi-National Division North. The Russian brigade, led by Colonel
Alexander Lentsov, was under the tactical control of
William L. Nash, U.S.
1st Armored Division commander, and the operational control of NATO supreme commander
George Joulwan through a Russian general,
Leonty Shevtsov, his deputy for Russian forces. Russian and American soldiers worked alongside each other in the first joint operation between Russia and the countries of NATO since World War II. The brigade participate in the NATO mission, which became the
Stabilization Force (SFOR), until 2003. Although during Pavel Grachev's tenure as Minister of Defense the Russian armed forces had been reduced by 1.1 million troops, these changes initially had no effect on the VDV. But in December 1995 he ordered two airborne divisions and four air assault brigades to be put under the command of military districts, and when Grachev was replaced by
Igor Rodionov in 1996, a Ground Forces officer, he continued to reduce the size of the VDV. In 1998 the 104th Division was reorganized as the
31st Guards Air Assault Brigade. and the 21st and 56th Brigades in 1997. In 2010, the VDV deputy commander, Major General
Alexander Lentsov, said that the service would remain a separate combat arm, but there was a possibility that it would become part of the
Special Operations Forces after 2016. In October 2013 it was reported that the three airborne brigades under military district control (apparently the 11th and 83rd (Ulan-Ude and Ussuriysk) in the
Eastern Military District and the 56th at
Kamyshin in the
Southern Military District) would be returned to VDV command. The process was completed by July 2015. In October 2013, Commander of the VDV Vladimir Shamanov announced that a new air assault brigade would be formed in
Voronezh in 2016 with the number of the 345th Guards Airborne Regiment. The establishment of the brigade was postponed to 2017–18, according to a June 2015 announcement. It was announced in July 2015 that plans called for the 31st Airborne Brigade to be expanded into the 104th Guards Airborne Division by 2023, and for an additional airborne regiment to be attached to each division. In the mid-2010s, the Russian Airborne Forces consisted of four divisions and six brigades, including: • 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division • 76th Guards Air Assault Division • 98th Guards Airborne Division • 106th Guards Airborne Division • 11th Guards Air Assault Brigade • 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade • 56th Guards Air Assault Brigade • 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade •
45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade •
38th Guards Communications Brigade By 2021 the total personnel of the VDV was 45,000. These units allegedly were used as spearhead forces during the August 2014 DPR and LPR counteroffensive. During the August 2014 counteroffensive, battalion tactical groups of the 7th Guards Airborne Division's
247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, the 98th Guards Airborne Division's
331st Guards Airborne Regiment, the 106th Guards Airborne Division's
137th Guards Airborne Regiment, and the
31st Guards Air Assault Brigade allegedly were sent into Ukraine. Reconnaissance teams from the
45th Guards Spetznaz Brigade and the 106th's 173rd Guards Separate Reconnaissance Company were previously deployed to Ukraine alongside Ground Forces units. In February 2016, it was reported that an airborne battalion would be permanently deployed to
Dzhankoy,
Crimea, in 2017–18, and upgraded to a regiment in 2020. In May 2017, Shamanov announced that the battalion would be formed at
Feodosiya by 1 December 2017 as part of the
7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, and would be expanded into the 97th Air Assault Regiment with three battalions by late 2019. Since the
2014 annexation, the status of Crimea is
under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers Crimea an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia considers Crimea to be an integral part of Russia. In August 2016, Russian paratroopers placed 1st place in the Airborne Platoon competition during the International Army Games in Russia, defeating teams from China, Iran, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. On 4 October 2016, Colonel General
Andrey Serdyukov was appointed commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, replacing Shamanov, who became chief of the
Duma Committee on Defense. State tests of a new
Bakhcha-U-PDS parachute platform for the BMD-4M and BTR-MDM vehicles were completed in May 2018. Deliveries of new 'heavy drop' systems PBS-950U and PBS-955 began in 2020. In 2019, two battalion sets of BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles and BTR-MDM Rakushka armored personnel carriers, more than 200 units of various automotive equipment, including special armored vehicles, army snowmobiles, four-wheelers and buggies and more than 9,000 parachute systems D-10 and "Arbalet-2" were delivered to the troops. during the
Zapad 2021 exercise In April 2020, military personnel from the Russian Airborne Forces, performed the world's first
HALO paradrop from the lower border of the
Arctic stratosphere. The Russian commando group used "next-generation special-purpose parachute system", military-tested oxygen equipment, navigation devices, special equipment, and uniforms. This was the first high-altitude landing in the Arctic latitudes over 10 km in the history of Russian aviation. As part of its mission in the Arctic region, the aircrew provided landing of airborne units from altitudes of between 10 and 1.8 kilometres, as well as landing of cargo with a total weight of about 18 tons. After conducting practical combat training, the
Il-76 aircrews landed at the
Nagurskoe airfield in the northern part of the island of
Franz Josef Land. The high-altitude landing was dedicated to the
75th anniversary of victory in the
Great Patriotic war of 1941–1945, and the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Airborne troops. Two air assault regiments were set up in Pskov and Crimea as part of air assault divisions in 2021. The Russian Defense Ministry also accepted the Zavet-D artillery fire control vehicle for the Airborne Forces. In 2021–2022, the Airborne Forces received about 30,000 sets of landing equipment and parachute systems.
Sergey Shoigu claimed in September 2023 that VDV have received more than 2,000 hardware units and 5,500 landing means and also a new airborne regiment formed since the beginning of the year. The Russian Ministry of Defense said on 1 January 2024 that the VDV received during the past year over 2,500 units of weapons, military and special equipment, including more than 780 samples of "newest and contemporary ones". Among the newest samples were
T-90M tanks and
BMD-4M IFVs as well as BTR-MDM "Rakushka" and BTR-82A APCs. It was also reported on 3 January that 20 military units were created in 2023, including the Ulyanovsk air assault division. About 16,000 landing means were also reportedly delivered and 1,000 more in the first quarter of 2024.
Russian invasion of Ukraine during the
Battle of Antonov Airport The VDV participated heavily in the
Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the opening hours of the invasion the VDV attempted to secure key airports and support assaults around Ukraine. These paratroopers were recognizable by the
orange-and-black Saint George ribbons decorating their helmets and arms. Three air assault operations were carried out: in the northern direction, the
Hostomel Airport northwest of Kyiv, and in the southern direction, Antonov Bridge over the Dneiper river east of Kherson, and the
Kakhovka Dam and Bridge. Of the three, the latter two operations were successful in capturing their objective. The VDV attempted to paradrop and transport troops with
Mi-8 and
Mi-17 helicopters and take the Hostomel Airport in northern
Kyiv, in order to use the airport to
airlift more troops and heavy equipment to take Kyiv as a form of forward "air bridge" that would enable rapid deployment of Russian forces far in advance of the Russian land front, in an action that became known as the
Battle of Antonov Airport. The VDV troops had initial success on the first day against the
Ukrainian National Guard, The next day battle resumed, and the VDV again attempted to land troops at the airport. Deploying around 200 helicopters and with support from the Ground Forces arriving from the north (Belarus and
Chernobyl), they finally broke through the Ukrainian defenses and established Russian control over the airport. In the end, however, the Ukrainians claimed that the airport became too damaged from the battle to be used as an airstrip. Forty kilometers south of Kyiv in
Vasylkiv, VDV paratroopers also dropped in an attempt to secure the
Vasylkiv Air Base. Without any support from air or ground forces, the VDV troops in Vasylkiv were eventually encircled and were unsuccessful in achieving their objectives, giving victory in the
Battle of Vasylkiv to the Ukrainians. On February 27, VDV troops with
BMD-2s and
BTR-Ds were seen advancing south of Hostomel in
Bucha. The VDV and Ground Forces' units were hit on the same day by
Bayraktar air strikes. The Ukrainian government claimed that "more than 100 units of enemy equipment were destroyed”. On the following weeks the VDV served as
mechanized infantry and
light infantry during the
Kyiv offensive, They attempted a raid on a local
military hospital but were repelled by local Ukrainian forces. In the fall of 2022, units of the 76th Guards Division were transferred from fighting in the
battle of Donbass to fight the
Kherson counteroffensive, where they stopped the advance of Ukrainian marines from the
35th Marine Brigade. According to the UK Ministry of Defence in June 2023, Russia was redeploying regular military units to the
Bakhmut sector following withdrawal of
Wagner forces. These included elements of the 76th and 106th VDV divisions and two additional brigades. The MoD added that the VDV was much degraded from its pre-invasion "elite" status. As of August 2022, according to Colonel General
Mikhail Teplinsky, over 5,000 VDV paratroopers have been decorated for distinguished service during operations in Ukraine, and 17 of them became
Heroes of the Russian Federation. In August 2025, he said that over 100,000 decorations have been awarded to VDV servicemen, and 99 have become Heroes of the Russian Federation. Two divisions, two brigades and one regiment participated in
restoring control over Kursk Oblast, and later entered Ukraine's
Sumy Oblast, while the 98th Guards Division took part in finishing the
battle of Chasiv Yar, and the 7th Guards Division was fighting in the Zaporozhye Oblast.
Analysis of losses On 3 March 2022, it was reported that
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky of the VDV's 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, who was the appointed deputy commander of the
41st Combined Arms Army, was
killed in action in Ukraine. His death is attributed to
sniper fire either near
Mariupol (which was
besieged by Russian forces) or
Hostomel during the Kyiv offensive. Ukrainian sources said he was killed on 2 March and his death was first confirmed on
VKontakte by "Combat Brotherhood", a Russian veterans group, The VDV also joined the assault on the city of
Mykolaiv during the
Battle of Mykolaiv, but were pushed back by a Ukrainian counter-offensive. On 18 March it was reported that Colonel Sergei Sukharev along with deputy Major Sergei Krylov of the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment had been killed during fighting in Mariupol. In late April,
Bellingcat journalist
Christo Grozev claimed that he "personally checked" and that Russia had lost "almost 90% of its best paratroopers" in the first echelon of the invasion. Many helicopters were shot down by Ukrainian defenses, and the paratroopers were stranded without armored vehicles or air support. In early May, the UK MoD stated that the VDV units and other elite forces had suffered high losses and that it would "probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces." On 19 June 2022, it was reported by
Odesa military-civilian spokesperson
Serhiy Bratchuk This was confirmed by Russian media reports. He was replaced by Colonel General
Mikhail Teplinsky. According to
BBC News Russian and the
Mediazona news website, 1,937 VDV deaths had been documented by the end of August 2023, which included 340 officers, accounting for 6% of the 31,665 Russian fatalities who had been identified by name, and 8% of those who could identified by both name and service branch.
UK intelligence estimate that around 30,000 paratroop forces were deployed to Ukraine in 2022 and that 50% of those have been killed or wounded by summer 2023. A Russian General in August 2023 stated that 3,500 wounded paratroopers had refused to leave the front for treatment and 5,000 had returned to the front after treatment. As of 8 May 2025, at least 401 BMD-2, 171 BMD-4M, 105 BTR-D, and 12 unknown BTR-D/BMD-2 have been lost in the invasion.
Wartime expansion Despite claims of 'devastating' and 'crippling' losses, the VDV expanded during the war. After the invasion it was announced that the Airborne Forces would create two new divisions. Teplinsky announced on August 2, 2023 that the VDV is expanding the 31st Air Assault Brigade into the
104th Guards Air Assault Division. The 299th and 119th Parachute Regiments were also reestablished, expanding two other divisions from two to three regiments. Also reported was the creation of a new
52nd Artillery Brigade, the first unit of its type in the VDV, and the
44th Air Assault Division, created on the basis of the 111th and 387th Motor Rifle Regiments of the
1st Army Corps of the
Donetsk People's Republic. The 44th Air Assault Division recalls the number of the Soviet-era 44th Training Airborne Division, but being from newly-formed motor rifle regiments, it was described as being an air assault unit "in name only" by military analysts. == Structure ==