Russia suffers heavy casualties at Battle of Donbass

Winter is approaching in Ukraine, but the fronts there are by no means frozen. Russia’s military leadership has ordered offensives at various sectors for reasons that are partly obvious, partly puzzling. The Russians are trying, with good reason, to put themselves in better defensive positions in the northern Donbass. It is about securing the important supply route from Russia to Lisichansk in the Luhansk province. It was endangered by a Ukrainian counter-offensive in October, but the Ukrainians have since had to withdraw somewhat in places.

Frontal attacks with no apparent benefit

On the other hand, it seems strange that the paramilitary units of the Wagner group in the Donbass have been attacking the small town of Bakhmut with practically no success for weeks, even though the Ukrainians are well entrenched there. The procedure can only be explained by saying that the loss of human life among the Wagner units, some of which were made up of convicts, is irrelevant to the Kremlin. The Russian offensive in the village of Pavlivka, 50 kilometers south-west of Donetsk, is just as cynical. This costly operation began in late October and lacks a clear strategic objective.

Although Pavlivka is located at a not insignificant crossroads, control of the town would not bring the Russians any significant advantage. Since the Ukrainians have the nearby city of Wuhledar, which is much higher up, in their hands, they can easily bombard the occupiers with artillery. This is exactly what is happening: new videos documenting the destruction of Russian armored vehicles are appearing on the Internet every day.

A Russian eyewitness expressed surprise about the precision of the Ukrainian artillery, which clearly surpasses that of the attackers. The fact that the Russians are paying an enormous price for the partial conquest of Pavlivka was shown at the weekend by an angry one calling of soldiers a participating unit, the 155th Marine Infantry Brigade from the Russian Pacific province of Primorye. In four days, they lost 300 men who either died, were injured or went missing, the authors wrote.

If this is the case, this brigade has lost up to a fifth of its combat troops in a very short time, depending on the number of troops. The number 300 cannot be verified, but the Ministry of Defense in Moscow felt compelled to deny it on Monday because of the fuss that had arisen. The governor of the province of Primorye, who was addressed in the soldiers’ appeal, admitted that the fighting was tough and that there were casualties, but rejected the statements.

Interestingly, this is by no means the end of the matter. A number of Russian military correspondents – all nationalists and supporters of the war – criticized the authorities’ response. The mere fact that the Gray Zone telegram channel, which is quite popular with 340,000 subscribers, published the letter of protest proves that not every piece of information can be suppressed in Russia. Military bloggers with good knowledge of the situation at the front in particular get angry when officers send their troops to their deaths pointlessly.

On the highly acclaimed Telegram channel Rybar, the generals were accused of making mistakes in planning the advance to Pavlivka. Another nationalist military observer, Alexei Sukonkin, wrote of “horrible bloodshed” in the battle. He predicted an “information apocalypse” for the authorities as soon as some of the soldiers involved went public.

Racist dig

Ethnic resentment is also mixed in with the criticism. At the call of the soldiers of the 155th brigade, the head of the Eastern Military District, General Rustam Muradov, and the brigade commander, Zurab Akhmedov, were personally attacked. It is subtly made clear that the two are not ethnic Russians, but come from the Muslim North Caucasus. The two are more concerned with personal fame than with the well-being of the troops, the letter accuses – a criticism that some of the nationalist military bloggers have also accepted.