Russian elite marine brigade was decimated in the Vuhledar battle
The BBC reports that the losses of the Russian elite 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, which participated in the battle for Vuhledar, amount to 2,400 people. This constitutes 80% of the entire unit. Before the war, the brigade consisted of approximately 3,000 soldiers.
Since the first day of the invasion, the 155th Marine Brigade has been involved in the war in Ukraine. This formation fought in the Kyiv region and then retreated to Belarus, after which it was transferred to Donbas. Its main target was the fortress of Vuhledar.
The elite brigade has ceased to exist
A few months later, in November 2022, pro-Russian military bloggers reported heavy losses of the brigade during the offensive near the village of Pavlivka (about 2 miles from Vuhledar).
The infantry even complained to the governor of Primorsky Krai about the "large and useless" losses in personnel and equipment. In just four days, the Russians lost 300 people.
They were transferred to Kursk
As always, the Russian Ministry of Defense downplayed the complaint. In response to the soldiers' allegations, they stated that losses over 10 days did not exceed 1% killed and 7% wounded.
Currently, the 155th Brigade is operating in the Kursk region, where it was transferred in August 2024, after the start of the Ukrainian offensive in the Russian region.
In August, fighters from this brigade published a video showing the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier mounted on a pole in the Belgorod region.
Vuhledar, which the brigade had been attacking since 2022, only came under full Russian control at the beginning of October.
The history of the 155th Brigade clearly illustrates the exhaustion of Russian formations fighting in the toughest sections of the front, comments the BBC.
On Friday, "The New York Times" reported that since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army has lost over 600,000 soldiers (killed and wounded), and September has become the bloodiest month in history. Simultaneously, Kyiv's losses are reported to be half as much.
