The battle for the initiative in the war in Ukraine is far from over as both sides launch local attacks in order to make territorial gains before the winter freeze.
While neither side has been able to reach a significant breakthrough in the opponent's positions in recent weeks, media outlets affiliated with the Russian military reveal the heavy price that Moscow is paying for trying to retake the initiative.
While tens of thousands of new and inexperienced recruits have come to the aid of the Russian army and are taking up defensive roles at various points on the vast front, the Russian army is suffering from a shortage of skilled and experienced units, after more than eight months of fighting that has worn down some of the best units of the Russian army such as the airborne and paratrooper brigades.
Many of the best units sent by the Russian military to Ukraine are in the Kherson sector where the Russian military is on the defensive with its supply lines threatened and its ability to move limited on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
In recent weeks, the Russian army has been making a significant attempt to move experienced units to other parts of the front in order to carry out attacks in the Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian army still holds large parts of the region annexed by Russia last month.
However, the Russian transition to the offensive in the past week resulted in a crushing defeat that resulted in the loss of one of the elite and experienced military units of the Ukrainian army, following heavy losses in personnel and equipment.
The battle took place near the town of Pavlivka, a small town located not far from an important railroad crossing that is within the range of the Ukrainian artillery, and the Russian command decided to attack in order to distance the Ukrainian fire range and improve the movement of supplies to the front.
Fighters of the 155th Marine Regiment in training, photo: Russian Ministry of Defense
The attack was led by the Russian Navy's 155th Marine Battalion, an elite unit whose fighters have participated in operational activity in several combat arenas in Ukraine and proven themselves in chaotic combat in an artillery-saturated environment.
According to an account of Russian soldiers, leaked to several Telegram channels and reported by media in Russia, the failures in the planning of the attack depended on its very beginning.
The Russian fighters attacked the town from a steep slope while the Ukrainian positions are in the valley, with a neighborhood of high-rise buildings behind it.
According to the Russian fighters, the buildings on the other side of the battlefield were not shelled properly, which allowed the Ukrainians to observe, place anti-tank squads and direct artillery fire from the upper floors of the buildings. "We were thrown into a confusing battle without clear instructions.
The enemy was well dug in and simply waited for us to go down the slope, the tanks simply wandered the battlefield aimlessly until they were hit and the fighters were left exposed to sniper and machine gun fire," reads a letter written by several fighters and published on the Russian military Telegram channel "Greyzon".
An anti-tank squad of the Ukrainian army in the battles in the east of the country, photo: AFP
"We suffered 300 dead and hundreds of wounded and missing in four days of fighting, as a result of 'careful planning' by our 'great commanders.' Our people are meat," read the letter of complaint of the fighters, which received a lot of resonance.
The fighters accused the battalion commander and the section commander, both of Chechen origin, that they would "do anything to get medals" and even hinted that the lives of Russian soldiers were less important to them because they were Russian.
The Russian army responded to the news yesterday evening and wrote that the casualty rate was between one percent and seven percent of the attacking force and that the Ukrainian army lost four times as many soldiers in the battle.
The announcement by the Russian Ministry of Defense was derided among those surfing the Russian social networks themselves, which reflects the growing gap between the official Russian military establishment and the military commentators affiliated with the regime.
Fresh recruits in Russia, photo: AP
The defeat in Publika, which is very much preoccupying the unofficial media in Russia, is far from the only disturbing report from the past week for the Russian army.
In another case that received a lot of attention on social networks, it was reported that a unit of inexperienced conscripts from the Voronezh region, located in the southwest of Russia, was thrown into bloody battles in the Luhansk region without the aid of heavy weapons, without the means to dig in and defend themselves, and without sufficient ammunition.
According to some reports, out of the 550 fighters of the battalion, less than fifty survived.
But while the loss of fresh recruits with no combat experience is likely a sacrifice Moscow is willing to make, the near-total annihilation of an elite unit like the 155th Marines is a blow that a doubt in the Russian military can afford.
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