Russian Special Forces take heavy losses in Ukraine – Pentagon leak
Фото: Вікіпедія
Russian commanders have deployed special forces alongside infantry formations since the beginning of the full-scale war.
They have suffered huge losses, which have changed the dynamics of the war, The Washington Post.
Russian commanders have over-relied on the specialized units, which have been put to use as part of front-line infantry formations. Those formations, like the Ukrainians, have suffered massive numbers of dead and wounded.
Special forces are assigned with stealthy, high-risk missions — including an apparent order to capture Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky — for which they receive some of the Russian military's most advanced training.
According to a US intelligence assessment, Russian commanders eager to "seize the momentum" ordered elite troops to engage in direct combat at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The depletion of Russian Special Forces changed the dynamics of the war from the very beginning, limiting the Kremlin's ability to carry out covert operations.
US intelligence believes the staggering losses suffered by these units will make them less effective in Ukraine and other parts of the world where Russian troops operate.
The documents do not specify the number of special forces personnel killed or wounded in Ukraine. Still, they cite intelligence intercepts as saying that only the 346th unit alone "lost nearly the entire brigade with only 125 personnel active out of 900 deployed".
The FBI recently arrested a 21-year-old American on suspicion of "leaking" secret Pentagon data. Today, on Friday, he should be charged.
Journalists tracked down this suspect. One of his mates spoke about the racist anti-government views of the user with the nickname OG, who first shared this data, which later spread around the world as one of the biggest leaks of American secrets.
The man's motivation is unknown, but it seems that by publishing secrets, he was "earning" himself popularity among his friends in that chat. Russians then published papers from there on Twitter and Telegram.
Some of the documents, in particular about losses, have been changed from the original. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the "leaking" is a mix of truth and lies, and the truth is that the information is mostly irrelevant. The papers were mainly related to the winter period.
