UK: Elite Russian Forces Suffer Losses In Ukraine

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that imagery shows concentrated Russian vehicle losses in the Vuhledar sector of the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine. These vehicles were likely elements of Russia’s 155th Naval Infantry (NI) Brigade that has been at the forefront of recent costly offensives.

NI is seen as an elite infantry force within the Russian military, the UK Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter, noting that unlike the similarly prestigious airborne infantry (VDV), NI has not deployed as a single large formation in Ukraine.

Instead,  the British report said individual units have been attached to Ground Forces-dominated Groups of Forces.

“As such, NI has been tasked with some of the toughest tactical missions in the war and has suffered extremely high casualties,” the report noted.

“The supposedly enhanced capability of NI brigades has now almost certainly been significantly degraded because it has been backfilled with inexperienced mobilized personnel,” according to the intelligence update, adding that, “This lack of experience is almost certainly exacerbating Russian officers’ tendency to micromanage, which in turn reduces operational agility.”

The Defense Ministry report said that there is a realistic possibility that degraded NI units will again be committed to new assaults near Vuhledar.