The (now 9) brigades of the Offensive Guard are generally either name changes of former National Guard operational purpose brigades (among them the former 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade, the protectors of Hostomel) or expansions of NG operational purpose regiments (such as Safari/Tsunami or Azov); in two other specific cases of a former TDF battalion and a border guard detachment. I think the main objective is to increasingly rationalize the various units and concentrate them as much as possible in the classical brigade scheme (as the Army is progressively doing with the separate rifle battalions).

In the first case, we are talking about brigades already deployed at the front: in Kreminna, for instance, there has been an important grouping of National Guard units for months (which are generally given little attention). They are mainly light infantry formations and generally have a tank company; I also think that priority for the allocation of tanks is given to the tank battalions of the Army’s brigades. To my knowledge they usually run on wheeled vehicles such as BTRs. I think they sit somewhere between the motorized brigades and the new rifle brigades.

I have no doubt that such brigades will receive new equipment, are training new recruits to expand manpower, etc. and will do their best whether deployed in the first line, but I wouldn’t make much hype around them and wouldn’t classify them as the spearhead of Ukrainian offensive power; that is the role of mechanized or air assault brigades.

P.S.: I had not heard about the new three tank brigades. I thought they weren’t creating new ones (think of the 5th Tank Brigade which remained a ghost brigade) as they require too many tanks of which there isn’t a surplus, and in any case after looking at how badly the Russian tank division model worked I would be a bit dubious about the tank brigade as a stand-alone operational force.

I don’t know if that was the problem in Kharkiv. If anything, their static defenses were basically nonexistent if compared to today’s defenses in the southern front and also they had few men per km of frontline, especially in that sector where there were mainly SOBR units. Probably, if anything, in the Kharkiv region the Russians had too much equipment in relation to manpower and the quality of the defense lines, which is the reason why when the Ukrainians reached Kupjansk, the 1st Guards Tank Army got the shit out of Izyum and fled to the eastern side of the Oskil River, leaving behind an embarrassing amount of tanks and armored vehicles.

Infantry in itself can defend a position very efficiently if it’s well fortified, there are plenty of ATGMs and there is good artillery or air support.