Russia using new mass assault tactics on battlefield, Kyiv says

By Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder

KYIV (Reuters) - Russian forces are trying out a new tactic of larger-scale assaults involving several hundred troops, according to Ukraine's military, as Kyiv girds for a new offensive push from its bigger adversary more than three years into a full-scale war.

The change signals a possible break with the tactics which Russia has leant on for over two years, sending in tiny groups of infantry to seep slowly through Ukrainian lines.

A post from the Ukrainian military's southern command on Thursday showed video footage of what it said was a Russian attack involving 320 men and 40 armoured vehicles in the vicinity of several villages on the southern frontline in Zaporizhzhia region.

The post said that the attack took place on Wednesday evening and lasted approximately two and a half hours before it was beaten back, adding that heavy losses were inflicted on the Russians.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield claims.

Russia's tactic of attacking with small, lightly armed infantry units was in itself an evolution from how Moscow fought early in the war, when its vast armoured columns found themselves taking huge losses from nimble Ukrainian units.

The rise of mass drone warfare, which can hit targets far more precisely than mortars or artillery, has also made life much more difficult for armoured vehicles.

"Approximately 5-7 men would prepare for these assaults, make a so-called corridor with electronic warfare (anti-drone) equipment and tried to go as far as possible with these groups of infantry," Vladyslav Voloshyn, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, said of Russia's tactics in recent months.

According to Voloshyn, there would be around ten such small attacks on a typical day on this part of the Zaporizhzhia frontline.

He said that as well as Wednesday's mass assault, the Russians had carried out a similar large attack on Sunday.

"Entire assault platoons came forward, which then tried to disperse into assault groups. Each assault group carried out its task, trying to capture a position of ours," he said.

The commander of Ukraine's National Guard, Oleksandr Pivnenko, said on Thursday that one of his brigades had repelled a large assault, involving armoured vehicles and hundreds of infantrymen, on a different part of the frontline near the embattled eastern town of Pokrovsk.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Max Hunder; Writing by Max Hunder; Editing by Peter Graff)