Russian elite units suffered devastating losses in war in Ukraine - media

According to Ukrinform, this was reported by The National Interest.

“The Russian Special Forces, one of Russia's most elite military units, have suffered serious losses in Ukraine,” the report says.

It is noted that the special forces, which were initially tasked with carrying out important missions, including the removal of the Ukrainian leadership, suffered devastating losses, especially during the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2022. 

The Russian military command wanted to use these units to achieve an easy victory in Ukraine, the publication points out. In particular, when Russian paratroopers stormed the Hostomel airport near Kyiv in early 2022, the special forces were supposed to attack President Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials.

However, the attempt to remove Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership failed. Therefore, Moscow continued to use elite special forces during the war. In particular, they were seen in operations near Mariupol, Kherson, Lyman, and Kharkiv.

According to The National Interest, four out of five Russian special forces brigades suffered significant losses by the end of the summer. In particular, one of them had only “125 active soldiers out of 900 deployed”. This implies that this unit lost almost 90% of its combat personnel.

As reported, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, reported an “unmanned aerial attack” on the building of the so-called Russian Special Forces University in the city of Gudermes.