KYIV — Russia probed Ukraine’s defensive lines ahead of an expected offensive, storming the coal-mining town of Voluder in the Donetsk region that could have lost the entire elite 155th Marine Infantry Brigade.
Oleksiy Dmitrashkivskyi, head of the United Press Center of the Tavriskyi district of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, told Politico that “a large number of enemy forces, including command staff, were destroyed near Buledar and Marinka in Donetsk Oblast.” “Also, in the last week, the enemy lost about 130 units of equipment, including 36 units of tanks.”
Russian forces are also losing 150-300 Marines a day near Vuledar, Dmitrashkivskiy said.
Russian strategic failures around Vuledar have likely further undermined the Russian nationalist community’s belief that Moscow’s forces are capable of launching a decisive offensive, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update. Pro-Kremlin military bloggers lament the heavy casualties and criticize the Russian command for sending elite troops into the frontal assault.
Ukrainian marines also released a video of them terrorizing and swarming Russian troops on a battlefield near Vuledar. “Go build a cemetery! Gosh, the first column went there and blew up, and then the second one went exactly the same way,” Ukrainian artillerymen were heard saying as they saw the Russians approaching Vuledar.
“The 155th Brigade has already had to be restaffed three times. First time after Erpin and Bucha; The second time they were defeated by Donetsk – they recovered again. And now almost the whole brigade has already been destroyed near Vuledar,” Dimitrashkivskii said.
The Russian military and nationalist community bitterly resented the defeat at Vuledar. The Institute for the Study of War reports that recent footage of the failed Russian attack near Vuledar has prompted some Russian military bloggers to call for public prosecutions of high-ranking officers for continuing to repeat the same mistakes.
The defeat came just days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported a “successful offensive near Voledar”. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine trolled the Russians Post a video A Russian military column is being destroyed in the area.
Former Russian paramilitary commander Igor Girkin, sentenced in absentia to life in prison for downing passenger flight MH17 in 2014, called Russian generals “complete idiots, who don’t learn from their own mistakes”.
On his Telegram military blog, Girkin, who uses the pseudonym Igor Strelkov, echoed the Russian military community’s ongoing criticism of commanders. He confirmed that near Vuledar the Russian forces had to advance in motorized and tank columns along narrow roads and piled up.
“Ukrainian artillery fires exceptionally accurately. More than 30 armored vehicles were lost. Dozens of tankmen were killed. Even more Marines, Special Forces and motorized riflemen died,” Girkin said. “All these losses turned out to be ‘one-sided’ – the Ukrainians shot the attackers like a shooting gallery.”
Girkin pessimistically described the defeat at Vuledar as the end of the Russian army offensive on the entire Donetsk front.
The Ukrainians are not rushing to celebrate the victory, however, as Russian forces continue to storm Ukrainian positions near Vuledar, Avdivka and Bakhmut, where the Ukrainians are preparing for street fighting.
“I hope that the weapons from our partners will arrive more quickly, because it will not only give us the opportunity to defend ourselves and hold off the attacks but also finally push them away from our territory,” Dimitrashkivskiy said.