Ukrainian Troops Are Shredding An Entire Russian Division Near Pokrovsk
The Russian 76th Guards Air Assault Division recently reinforced the Pokrovsk axis
After suffering heavy casualties capturing most of Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast last month, the Russian Center Group of Forces called in its reserve—the powerful 76th Guard Air Assault Division.
But despite being outgunned, outnumbered and compelled to pull back in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, the Ukrainian 7th Rapid Reaction Corps was ready to meet the Russian reinforcements. Now the Ukrainian corps is rapidly dismantling the 76th GAAD, killing or maiming thousands of Russians in the process.
The Ukrainian general staff in Kyiv tallied 1,400 killed and wounded Russian troops on Dec. 11. The same day, Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, attributed most of those casualties to the ongoing destruction of the 76th GAAD.
Brovdi claimed his drone pilots alone killed 505 Russians on Dec. 11. “And there are still a loooong five hours left in the day,” he quipped at the time.
“Their main worm reserve for Donbas has been thrown in—the force that was meant to seize Zaporizhzhia, the entire 76th Division, an ‘elite’ air assault formation,” Brovdi added. “And that’s exactly who we’re grinding down now.”
Brovdi projected the USF would destroy an entire battalion every day from the 76th GAAD until the division was all but eradicated as a fighting force. A battalion typically has several hundred soldiers. The over-sized 76th GAAD may have 15 battalions.
Five days later on Tuesday, the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps reported another 446 Russian casualties, presumably counting killed but not wounded. Most were 76th GAAD paratroopers, the corps claimed. “The increase in losses is associated with the full involvement of the operational reserve—three regiments of the 76th Airborne Assault Division of the Russian Federation.”
The 76th GAAD was in reserve in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast during the height of the fighting for Pokrovsk last month. Only after the Russian Center Group of Forces had marched into the town center, did the 76th GAAD finally deploy.
The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps spun the deployment as good news, claiming the air assault division was leaving the south for the east because the Center Group of Forces had lost too many troops capturing the twin settlements. “The enemy has to perform loss replenishment among personnel,” the Ukrainian corps stated.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
The number of Russian casualties hard to comprehend.The Vietnam War memorial in DC names the 58K killed and missing American soldiers, most of which were during 8 years of fighting. Russia is churning through that many soldiers in 2-3 months.
We lost less than 5K soldiers fighting the Iraq War. That’s about a week for Russia now.