KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia ramps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, weeks of failed attacks on a Ukrainian stronghold have torn two Russian brigades, raising questions about the country’s military tactics. Moscow and raised doubts about its ability to sustain a sustained, large-scale assault on the ground.
The fighting also comes at a heavy cost for Ukraine, which is using vast amounts of ammunition to push back a growing Russian ground force, often backed by heavy armor, artillery and air support. Are not. That added urgency to Ukraine’s plea for more ammunition, while its Western allies This week expressed increasingly worried about their ability to meet their needs.
Battle around the Ukrainian city of Vuhledar, located in intersection of the eastern front in the Donetsk region and the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia . region, considered one of Moscow’s opening moves in the nascent spring offensive. Although it has been going on for weeks, the scale of Russian losses is just beginning to be noticed.
The narratives of Ukrainian and Western officials, Ukrainian soldiers, captured Russian soldiers, Russian military bloggers, videos and satellite images all paint a picture of a faltering Russian campaign. in turn, continues to be hampered by dysfunction.
Moscow has rushed to send tens of thousands more troops, many of them inexperienced recruits, to the front lines in recent weeks as President Vladimir V. Putin’s forces seek to show progress ahead of the ceremony. commemorating his all-out invasion on February 24.
Colonel Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian military forces in the region, said in an interview while trying to capture Vuhledar, which is located near a railway line that Russia uses to resupply its forces, ” The enemy has suffered heavy losses”.
The Russians, he said, did not take into account the terrain – the empty fields full of mines – or the strength of the Ukrainian forces. Colonel Dmytrashkivskyi said two of Russia’s most elite brigades – the 155th and 40th Naval Infantry Brigade – were destroyed in Vuhledar.
In just one week, the General Staff of Ukraine, the body responsible for military strategy, estimated that Russia lost at least 130 armored vehicles, including 36 tanks. That estimate has been supported by accounts from Russian military bloggers who covered the war influential in Russia, and by drone footage of the destruction seen by analysts. independent military review.
Ben Wallace, Britain’s defense secretary, on Wednesday cited reports that “the entire Russian brigade was effectively destroyed” in Vuhledar, where he said that Moscow “has lost more than 1,000 men in two day.” British Defense Intelligence Agency last week’s report that Russian units “may have suffered particularly heavy casualties around Vulhedar”, leaving at least 30 armor behind after a failed attack.
Mr. Wallace told LBC News, a British news agency, on Wednesday that the losses in Vuhledar showed the consequences of “a president and a Russian general staff either ignoring reality or ignoring reality and simply It doesn’t matter how many people they’re killing. their own, let alone the people they are trying to suppress.”
Many of the newly captured soldiers were mobilized under a call-out that Putin announced last September to about 300,000 recruits, while others were recruited by the Wagner mercenary group, according to accounts of the Wagner mercenaries. Ukraine and Russia.
In recent weeks, a rivalry between Wagner forces and Russia’s regular army has raged, with the mercenary group claiming their fighters are more capable.
Wagner fighters led the Russian campaign in the city of Bakhmut, 60 miles north of Vuhledar. Ukrainian forces defending the city are in an increasingly precarious position, but only after months of relentless Russian attacks. heavy costs for Moscow and left the city in ruins.
Gray Zone, a Telegram channel affiliated with Wagner, was harsh about Russia’s military efforts in Vuhledar and called on Russian commanders responsible for the losses to be held accountable before public trials.
“Unpunishment always creates permissiveness,” a recent post speak.
A Russian Marine Surviving the Battle of Vuhledar told Russian media 7×7, based in the Komi region of Russia, that those who survived the battle were considered deserters. The Marine, whose identity was not disclosed, citing the need to protect his safety, said he belonged to the third company of the 155th brigade, he said after the failed attack. defeat of his unit, only 8 soldiers survived.
“It would be better if I was caught and never returned,” he said.
Moscow has continued to insist all is going according to plan. On Sunday, Russia’s Putin said that “infantry marines are operating as usual. Right away. Fight bravely.”
Natalia Yermakcontribution report.
