Russia’s Elite Special Forces Suffered Catastrophic Losses in Ukraine – The National Interest

All five Russian special forces brigades that entered the war on February 24, 2022, except one, had suffered significant losses by the end of summer 2022

Elite Russian special forces have suffered catastrophic losses in Ukraine, The National Interest reports .

According to the publication, the Kremlin assigned the most important tasks to these units, in particular, the elimination of the Ukrainian leadership. But they were also used on the front lines. It is noted that the Russian special forces suffered significant losses, especially during the Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2022.

“According to the Pentagon, all but one of the five [Russian] special forces brigades that entered the war on February 24, 2022, had suffered significant losses by the end of the summer of 2022. The Intelligence Agency estimates that one of the separate special forces brigades in question retained only 125 personnel out of a deployed force of 900. From a military perspective, a unit that has lost almost ninety percent of its combat capability is considered ineffective and is being withdrawn behind the front lines,” the article says.

These numbers may have increased because a few weeks later, in September 2022, Ukrainian forces launched a highly successful counteroffensive, liberating hundreds of square kilometers of territory. During this counteroffensive, the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade of the GRU, one of Russia’s most elite units, was forced to retreat and fight a defensive battle in the town of Liman. They suffered significant losses.

“While we do not have more recent data on [Russian] special forces losses after the summer of 2022, the extremely heavy losses suffered by all Russian troops indicate that special forces units continue to suffer significant losses,” the publication writes.

Russian troops have lost almost 700,000 people in the fighting, and losses continue to rise daily. Over the weekend, the Russian army lost an average of 1,600 troops daily.

“While the Russian military can easily replace losses in conventional units, the same cannot be said for special forces units,” the authors noted.

(C)UNIAN 2024