Elite Russian special forces units lost up to 95% of their personnel in Ukraine. It will take years to restore their combat effectiveness - Washington Post

Four of the five elite special forces brigades of the Russian army were almost completely destroyed in the war in Ukraine, losing up to 95% of their fighters. The Washington Post writes about this, citing information from a recent leak of secret Pentagon documents.

As follows from the documents, the main reason for the heaviest losses in the elite Russian units was their "unconventional" use. In the first months of the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian command, trying to maintain the momentum of the offensive and doubting the capabilities of conventional units, involved several special forces brigades in frontal attacks on Ukrainian positions. While the military doctrine of the country involves the use of special forces for covert operations, sabotage behind enemy lines, capturing especially important targets and other things, but not participating in large-scale offensive operations.

As a result, according to the newspaper, four out of five special forces brigades that returned from Ukraine last summer suffered “significant losses”, both in personnel and in equipment. At the same time, three of them lost up to 95% of their fighters, and 125 out of 900 people remained in the 346th GRU special forces brigade. In turn, the 22nd GRU special forces brigade lost more than half of the Tiger armored vehicles.

According to the publication, it takes at least four years to train a special forces soldier, and according to the authors of the leaked secret documents, it will take at least 10 years to restore the combat capability of the elite units that participated in the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, the Pentagon believes that the loss of combat capability by the best units of the Russian army, the Russian command will be forced to limit the conduct of secret special operations not only in Ukraine, but throughout the world.

Source: Washington Post

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