The Russian Pacific Fleet's 155th Marine Brigade lost 300 troops in the Donetsk region in four days, members of the elite unit said in a letter they sent via Telegram to Oleg Kozhemjako, governor of their home region, Primorje.
The soldiers called on the governor to intervene to avoid losing more people in a senseless offensive.
Earlier, the Russian army had spoken of “huge losses on the Ukrainian side” during the attack, which took place near the village of Pavlivka, but it was not known that the toll was also great on the Russian side.
In the letter to the governor, the brigade said it lost a total of about 300 men, “killed, wounded or missing.” The soldiers openly criticised their superiors in the letter, saying that the commanders once again pushed them into an “incomprehensible offensive”.
According to the soldiers, this was done so that General Rustam Muradov, commander of the Eastern Military District, could get a bonus and another commander, General Achhmedov, could be rewarded with the ‘Hero of Russia’ medal.
The unit also allegedly lost half of its equipment during the offensive.
The soldiers are now demanding that an independent commission – “not the defence ministry” – hold their unit commanders accountable. The commanders hid the real losses and did not care about anything, they said.
