The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that our military conducted a precision strike on the command post of the 8th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces, located in the city of Khartsyzk (a temporarily occupied area of Donetsk region).
As clearly indicated in this report, units of the 8th Army of the Russian Armed Forces are involved, in particular, in combat operations in the Kurakhove direction; the city of Khartsyzk is situated at least 40 kilometers from the current line of confrontation, which suggests various possible types of missile weaponry that could have been used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for this strike.
In this context, the question arises regarding how many divisions, soldiers, and equipment the 8th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces, which has been given the status of "Guards" by the Russians, might possess.
To start with, it is worth recalling that "the 1st and 2nd Army Corps" of the so-called "LPR" were transformed into the 51st and 3rd Combined Arms Armies of the Russian Armed Forces in the summer of 2024. Taking this fact and other data from Russian sources into consideration, the estimated composition of the 8th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces may look as follows:
- 20th and 150th Motorized Rifle Divisions;
- 238th Artillery and 47th Rocket Brigades;
- 78th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade;
- 33rd Engineer-Sapper Regiment, 38th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Regiment, and 133rd Separate Command Battalion.
Additionally, there are some estimates suggesting that the aforementioned 20th and 150th Motorized Rifle Divisions could collectively have up to 20,000 "bayonets" and 200 tanks of various types, the 238th Artillery Brigade could have up to 24 D-30 howitzers and Msta-S self-propelled guns, the 47th Brigade supposedly has "Tornado-G" systems in an unspecified quantity (although it would be more logical to have data on the presence of the Iskander OTRK), and the 78th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade has "Pantsir" and "Buk" systems.
The significance of the 8th Combined Arms Army within the overall structure of the Russian Armed Forces is evidenced not only by the fact that the aforementioned "1st and 2nd Army Corps" were under its command.
There is also an interesting fact - the commander of this same 8th Army, Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, was appointed acting head of the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces in May 2024.
Earlier, Defense Express reported that the Russians are producing "jihad-mobiles" for assaults on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which raises questions about what this really indicates.