Russia’s navy forces despatched to the Ukraine battle from the Pechenga valley close to the border to Norway and Finland are hit by staggering losses.
The Barents Observer has since Putin ordered his huge invasion on February 24 adopted official statements and social media within the Murmansk area making an attempt to map stories about casualties. Studies hinted about extreme losses the primary week of the battle. Later, unconfirmed posts advised about 300 servicemen from the north had been killed within the fights. Only some are confirmed, however video footage confirmed many ruined armored autos and tanks.
The primary fallen troopers to be named had been Viktor Shokhin, Roman Grudov and Sergey Egzhov.
“We’re deeply indebted to them and their households who raised actual heroes,” Murmansk governor Andrey Chibis famous in a Vkontakte put up on March 17. He stated the three had been killed as their brigade was attacked.
Final weekend, Chibis posted a photograph of Leonid Belyakov, additionally killed in motion (KIA) and belonging to a brigade within the Pechenga valley.
In January and February, social media movies confirmed how navy armored autos and tanks from the 2 hundredth Motorized Rifle Brigade in Pechenga had been loaded on prepare wagons and transported south to the Ukrainian border.
The troopers had been allegedly advised to take part in an train as Moscow loudly denied all allegations about an upcoming assault on the neighboring nation.
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The 2 hundredth Motorized Rifle Brigade is taken into account a really potent navy drive. In its present kind, the brigade was established in 1997, however its historical past goes again to earlier than the 2WW. In 2014, brigade items participated within the battle in Donbas, as reported by the Barents Observer on the time.
In early March, the Odessa Journal may inform how Ukrainian forces attacked the 2 hundredth Motorized Rifle Brigade shortly after it crossed the border close to Kharkiv. Journalist Yuri Butsov reported from the location that he had counted greater than 30 items destroyed and captured, each armored autos and KAMAZ vehicles.
The Ukrainian defenders used Javelin anti-tank guided missiles, a weapon attacking from top-down hitting at least protected a part of the tank.
Open-source intelligence evaluation website Oryx collects and updates details about broken, destroyed, deserted or captured Russian navy tools. As of March 26, one month into the battle, Russia has misplaced 561 tanks, 1,625 armored autos, 291 artillery techniques and 90 a number of launch rocket techniques.
Among the many tanks listed are 18 T-80BVM, an upgraded battle tank that the brigades in Pechenga received 26 of in 2019.
The State Duma on March 4 unanimously handed a legislation that criminalizes sharing what known as «faux info» concerning the Russian armed forces, together with punishment of as much as 15 years jail if calling the «particular navy operation» in Ukraine by its proper identify: WAR.
Since then, little details about the Russian Armed Forces’ losses in Ukraine has been reported within the media.
On Friday, March 25, nevertheless, the Ministry of Protection summed up the primary month after the invasion of Ukraine. “The particular navy operation is being carried out strictly in line with the authorised plan,” famous Main Normal Igor Konashenkov earlier than he gave the phrase to Colonel Normal Sergei Rudskoy, First Deputy Chief of the Normal Workers of the Russian Armed Forces.
“1,351 servicemen have died, 3,825 have been injured,” Rudskoy may inform, updating the official numbers considerably.
From Kyiv on Friday, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s workplace, stated in a video-posted each day replace that Russia had misplaced about 16,100 troopers within the battle. Arestovych then detailed an assault by the Ukrainian forces on Russia’s 2 hundredth Motorized Rifle Brigade.
“The battalion tactical group of the 2 hundredth of a separate motorized rifle brigade, which took half within the “particular navy operation” on the territory of Ukraine, suffered important losses in manpower. Of the 648 servicemen who had been despatched, 645 died. Solely three remained, after which two of them had been wounded,” Arestovich stated.
Arestovich’s claims have been extensively referred to in Ukrainian media, together with Interfax-Ukraine and Vesti-UA.
The Barents Observer had no additional chance to substantiate or disprove any of the knowledge offered by officers from the 2 sides, Russia and Ukraine.
Each the 2 hundredth Motorized Rifle Brigade and the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade are primarily based only some kilometers from the border to Norway and Finland.
Three touchdown ships from the Northern Fleet round Christmas sailed out from the Kola Peninsula and made port name in Kaliningrad earlier than they proceeded in direction of the Mediterranean and subsequently to the Black Sea. Onboard are troops from the Northern Fleet’s 61st Naval Infantry Brigade in Sputnik, an elite drive of marines.
In early 2015, Russia’s Armed Forces formally established its Arctic Brigade, partly primarily based partly on the eightieth Impartial Motor Rifle Brigade in Alakurtti and the 2 hundredth impartial Motorized Rifle Brigade in Pechenga.
