Ukrainian forces say small Russian infiltration teams are increasingly appearing out of nowhere and sowing chaos in their lines

Guided by drones while attempting to stay hidden from enemy eyes, small Russian infiltration teams are creeping across the front lines and stirring up trouble for Ukrainian forces already exhausted and stretched thin.

Ukrainian soldiers told Business Insider the tactic causes chaos and is becoming increasingly problematic. They said that the Russian teams often consist of just a few troops and are treated as expendable.

The Russian infiltrators have different missions. Some try to seize key positions and hold them until reinforcements arrive, while others focus on disrupting Ukrainian defenses by exposing drone operations or planting mines near their positions.

The infiltration tactic isn’t new, said Artem, an officer in Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps, who requested to be identified only by his first name for security reasons, but now, what used to be a rarer occurrence is happening more often.

Soldiers say that it’s becoming the norm. The incursions have “become the main battle tactic” in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, an area of heavy fighting, said Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Kyiv’s Unmanned Systems Forces.

He called the tactic “troublesome” because it is effective and allows Russia to push deeper into Ukrainian territory.

‘Problematic’

The front line stretches for some 800 miles across eastern and southern Ukraine, making it difficult to consistently monitor in every direction, even with the constant surveillance provided by drones. Manpower shortages make it difficult to cover every inch, creating opportunities for surprise enemy incursions.

Artem, a former deputy commander in Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade and the current head of military partnerships at the independent Snake Island Institute, described instances where Russia would send out just a few soldiers at a time, wearing hunting coats or employing tents to hide and avoid detection.

Their movements are guided by commanders who watch through an overhead drone and relay critical information via radio. Once they slip past the front lines, the Russian infiltrators start causing problems. Ukrainian special operations forces do the same thing.

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