Near Kharkiv, Ukraine Destroys 64th Motor Rifle Brigade, The "Butchers of Bucha"

It was well known in Ukraine that Russia's 35th Combined Arms Army, which had served in the failed attack on Kyiv, had subsequently been redeployed to Kharkiv. 

Among its units was the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade, which both the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and the European Union accused of war crimes by slaughtering civilians in Bucha. It was honored by Putin as a "Guards" unit (an historic Russian military reward) after being named in the massacre. The brigade appears to have been decimated in the past week. As the picture suggests, many of its soldiers were of the Buryat people from Siberia. Ukraine did not forget - or forgive. JL 

Alia Shoaib reports in Business Insider:

Ukraine claims to have obliterated Russia's 35th Combined Arms Army in Izyum, (near) Kharkiv. The Institute for the Study of War cited a Russian military blogger to corroborate the claims. The blogger claimed Russian commanders did not account for combat challenges in the Izyum woods, which led to significant losses (for) several brigades. The 64th and 38th Separate Guard Motor Rifle Brigades, part of the 35th Army, suffered major losses, and now have less than 100 servicemen in total. The EU has alleged Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov of the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade, led Russian troops as they "killed, raped and tortured civilians in Bucha."

Ukraine claimed to have almost entirely obliterated Russia's 35th Combined Arms Army in Izyum, a Ukrainian city in the Kharkiv Oblast.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak made the claim in a post on his official Telegram channel on Friday.

In a recent report assessing the Russian invasion, the United States-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War cited a Russian military blogger who appeared to corroborate the claims.

The blogger, who writes under the pseudonym Boytsovyi Kot Murz, claimed Russian commanders did not account for combat challenges in the Izyum woods, which led to significant losses across several brigades.

He claimed that the 64th and 38th Separate Guard Motor Rifle Brigades, which are part of the 35th Combined Arms Army, suffered major losses, and now have less than 100 servicemen in total.

Insider has not been able to independently verify the claims.

The blogger further claimed that Russian commanders did not provide the units with the equipment needed to fight in the woods and did not repair artillery quickly enough.

The military blogger also claimed that the units suffered from a lack of encrypted communication devices, which has been a well-documented issue facing Russian military forces throughout the war.

This lack of communication with command centers meant that Ukrainian forces were able to strike Russian positions with drones, the blogger claimed.

Izyum has been occupied by Russian forces since April, according to reports.

People seen digging graves in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 5, 2022. 

REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Ukraine's prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, previously alleged that Vasyl Lytvynenko, the 30-year-old commander of 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade, had ordered his soldiers to kill civilians in the Bucha district near Kyiv.

In a Facebook post, Venediktova shared a photograph of Lytvynenko and said he was "responsible for violations of the laws and customs of war, as well as murder."

It is not clear if Lytvynenko was on the ground during the alleged attacks on the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade in Izyum.

On Friday, the European Union named and blacklisted a Russian military commander describing him as a "butcher" of Bucha, per al-Jazeera. Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov of the 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade led Russian troops as they "killed, raped and tortured civilians in Bucha," alleged the EU.

Approximately 1,000 bodies have been recovered from Bucha, including 31 children, according to Ukrainian authorities, the BBC reported.