Russia's elite Marines have suffered four times higher losses during a year of fighting near Vuhledar in Donetsk Oblast than during 10 years of the Second Chechen War, the BBC News Russia reported on Oct. 4.
Kyiv's forces announced the withdrawal from the key Donetsk Oblast settlement on Oct. 2 after Russian forces swarmed the town's flanks and entered Vuhledar itself.
Lying in the southern part of the region, roughly 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the administrative border with Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Vuhledar has faced a heavy Russian onslaught since 2022.
The elite 155th and 40th marine brigades of the Russian Armed Forces, also known as the Black Berets, were involved in the storming of the city, supported by armored vehicles. The marines were also assisted by motorized rifle units manned by mobilized and volunteer personnel.
Chris York
According to the BBC, at least 211 marines from the 155th Brigade were killed during the battle for Vuhledar, with another 42 missing. This far exceeds the unit's losses during the decade-long Second Chechen War in 1999-2009, the media outlet's report showed.
BBC journalists were also able to confirm the deaths of 72 Russian soldiers from the 40th Brigade.
According to the BBC, the seriousness of the losses is confirmed by the fact that both brigades began using Storm-Z units made up of convicts.
Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade had defended Vuhledar, the key to Ukrainian defenses in the southern part of Donetsk Oblast, for nearly two years without rotations.
After withdrawing from the town, the 72nd Brigade's troops moved to a new defense line to continue holding back Russian forces, Arsenii Prylepko, a spokesperson for the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, told Hromadske.
Two undisclosed soldiers from the same brigade told Suspilne that their unit continues to hold the defenses in the same direction, near the occupied city.
According to one of the service members, some battalions that suffered significant losses during the battles for Vuhledar will be based in Donetsk Oblast, 10-15 kilometers (6-9 miles) from the front line.
"During this time, they are going to be replenished. The rest of the units will hold the defense in this direction," the soldier said.
Another soldier said the brigade remains in the same area because "there is no one to replace it."
During his address on Sept. 30, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine faces a "very challenging" situation on the front lines. Apart from Vuhledar, Russian forces have been focusing their efforts against the Donetsk Oblast towns of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, where outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian soldiers are slowly losing ground under Russian pressure.
Russian troops also appear to be preparing for assault operations in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where "the enemy is amassing personnel," the Ukrainian military's Southern Command spokesperson Vladyslav Voloshyn said on Sept. 28.
Francis Farrell
(Updated: )
