After 300 killed in a botched offensive on Vuhledar, Russian marines call for independent investigation
Military correspondent from the Russian state news agency VGTRK, Alexander Sladkov, reports that the 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet is in a difficult situation near the village of Pavlivka in the Vuhledar direction. According to him, the marines handed over to Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Primorsky Krai, where the brigade is stationed, a letter complaining about the command and asking him to send a commission to the site to stop a poorly planned and unprepared offensive against the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Telegram channel Grey Zone, associated with the Wagner PMC, published the full text of the letter. According to the letter, in four days of the offensive, the 155th Brigade lost 300 people killed, wounded, and missing, and lost 50% of its equipment. The marines accuse Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov, commander of the Eastern Military District and the group of troops East in Ukraine, of failed planning of the operation and an attempt to hide the real losses. They demand that an independent commission, which is independent from the Russian Defense Ministry, be sent to the area.
The same letter, however was published by the journalist of the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Anastasia Kashevarova.
Since the beginning of November, Russian troops have been attacking Vuhledar through Pavlivka and Novomikhailovka in order to flank the city and force Ukrainian forces to withdraw to new defense lines.
The commander of the battalion "East" of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Khodakovsky, said that the marines were in the "fire bag" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the operation itself was "premature".
Ukrainian journalist Denis Kazansky published drone footage, which allegedly shows the Russian servicemen killed in the attacks on Pavlivka.
Rustam Muradov became the second Russian military commander to face public criticism during the war in Ukraine. Earlier, the commander of the Center group of troops, Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, lost his post after being accused of incompetence by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov.