Infantry is the backbone of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. Under modern conditions, it operates as part of mechanized units equipped with military vehicles that provide high mobility, maneuverability, and the ability to act effectively in a wide range of combat situations.
- Classic infantry that moves exclusively on foot no longer exists — it is supported by various types of military vehicles that ensure mobility, logistics, and fire support.
- Mechanized troops are the largest and most maneuverable branch within the Ground Forces of Ukraine.
- Their mission includes holding key areas, repelling enemy attacks, breaching defensive lines, destroying enemy groupings, and conducting offensive operations of varying complexity.
- Mechanized troops bear the main burden of ground operations in all conditions — from linear defense to highly maneuverable offensive campaigns.
- This branch includes mechanized, motorized infantry, mountain infantry (assault), rifle, and ranger units.
- Mechanized units operate infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and self-propelled artillery systems.
- Motorized infantry units are equipped with lighter armored vehicles and do not have organic self-propelled artillery; therefore, they are usually employed away from the main axis of attack.
- Mountain infantry (mountain assault) units undergo specialized mountain training and can operate independently in mountainous and forested terrain.
- Rifle units are light infantry transported by vehicles (trucks, pickups, buses, light armored vehicles) that perform defensive, patrol, security, and stabilization tasks.
- Ranger units are specialized, highly mobile light infantry that rely on autonomy, maneuver, speed, and low visibility in complex terrain rather than on heavy armor or massed fire.
- The combat experience of the last decade has proven that mechanized troops are the foundation of the combat power of the Ground Forces of Ukraine.
- Operations succeed only when infantry can gain and hold ground — key areas, lines, and populated localities.
- In the early stages of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) and Joint Forces Operation (JFO), mechanized units liberated more than 100 settlements, shortened the line of contact, and prevented the enemy from advancing deeper into the country.
- Infantry played a decisive role in the defense and de-occupation of Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, in the liberation of Kherson, in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia counteroffensives, in the defense of Sumy region, in the Kursk offensive operation, and in other successes of the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
- Ukraine stands because its infantry stands.