VDV / Russian Airborne Forces

Submission 21,796

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About

The VDV (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России / Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska Rossii), also known as the Russian Airborne Forces, refers to an airborne branch of the Russian army, which was formed during World War II and split following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, reducing its size. During the 2021-2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict, VDV troops were repeatedly deployed in Ukraine where they were successfully repelled by Ukrainian troops during multiple attacks and attempted sieges of airports, major cities and other strategic locations. Reports of their repeated defeats became the subject of memes in early 2022 alongside similar memes of that time mocking the Russian military. A Russian song praising the VDV titled "VDV: Greetings from the Sky" by Alexander Buinov is often used in memes about the VDV.

History

The VDV was started during World War II and split with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This reduced the number of VDV soldiers in the subsequent years. The VDV's first jump date was August 2nd, 1930. On March 5th, 2021, YouTuber Battle Order posted a video describing the history of the VDV (shown below).

2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

VDV troops were deployed to Ukraine as part of the 2022 invasion of the country by Russia in late February. Reportedly, VDV forces managed to secure some key airports around this time. On February 24th, 2022, Express^[2] reported on VDV troops taking over an airport in Kyiv. The fight is known as the Battle of Antonov Airport. On that day, VDV troops were pushed back by the Ukrainian national guard as they attempted to take Gostomel, some reportedly escaping to the woods.^[3] Russians eventually took Gostomel airfield, but it was deemed too damaged to use as an airstrip.^[4]

Two Russian transport planes full of VDV troops were allegedly shot down by Ukrainian soldiers in late February 2022, who were reportedly attempting to take Vasylkiv Air Base,^[5] each plane purportedly carrying over 100 troops. Russians were not successful in taking Vasylkiv by early March.

On February 27th, a VDV troop was spotted in Bucha. The troop was destroyed that same day by Ukrainian airstrikes, which reportedly took out more than 100 VDV troops.^[6] A VDV troop attempted to take the city of Kharkiv on March 2nd but was successfully fought back by Ukrainian soldiers according to a report by Sky News.^[7] On March 3rd, it was then reported that VDV Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper near Mariupol.^[8] This was later confirmed by Vladimir Putin. ^[9]

Online Presence

VDV: Greetings From the Sky / VDV Song

On November 7th, 2006, YouTuber^[1] terauchi999 posted a music video for a song by Russian singer Alexander Buinov praising the VDV, showing them performing combat exercises (shown below). The video gained over 7.5 million views in 16 years.

The video and song became the increasing subject of memes in early 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly as reports that VDV troops kept losing to Ukrainian troops continued to come out. For example, on February 24th, Instagram^[10] user usaacom posted a version of the video with a humorous auto-caption translation of the lyrics, gaining over 16,800 views in two weeks (shown below).

On February 26th and 28th, 2022, YouTubers Noverous and Gladeanus posted videos using the song with titles about VDV troops' unsuccessful attacks on Hostomel airport, gaining over 7,400 and 31,300 views respectively in around two weeks (shown below, left and right).

On March 3rd, 2022, YouTuber Rik posted a version of the music video with comedic English subtitles about how the VDV is losing to Ukrainian soldiers, gaining over 59,000 views in four days (shown below).

VDV Memes

The VDV became the increasing subject of memes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many joking about the losses the VDV kept reportedly taking. For example, on March 7th, 2022, an anonymous user of 4chan's /pol/^[11] board posted an Oomer Wojak meme about the VDV trooper (shown below).

Memes about the VDV became notably popularized on iFunny^[12]^[13] in February and March 2022, often depicting tired and frustrated troops being sent into battle against their will by Putin (examples shown below).