Ukraine Inflicting 80 Percent Casualty Rates On Russian Assault Units In Donbas

Military experience suggests that losses of 10% to a unit threaten its ability to function (hence the Latin word "decimate") and that losses of 30% render most units dysfunctional, forcing them to be rotated out and reconstituted. 

Losses of 80% would eliminate a unit as a functioning entity and its survivors might be too traumatized to be of further use, even in a rebuilt operational structure. JL

Marc Santora reports in the New York Times:

Up to 80% of some assault units fighting in Ukraine for Russia have been killed in battle as Moscow’s forces suffer heavy combat losses daily in their campaign in eastern Ukraine. In its grinding attempts to gain ground, (Russia) has relied on sending wave after wave of inexperienced and poorly trained former prisoners to attack Ukrainian positions, regardless of the high rate of casualties. “Evacuation of those killed and wounded by the hostiles is limited or not carried out at all.” Wagner's Prigozhin conceded that progress in the campaign for Bakhmut had been slow.

The Ukrainian military claimed on Thursday that up to 80 percent of some assault units fighting in Ukraine for Russia have been killed in battle as Moscow’s forces suffer heavy combat losses daily in their campaign to gain ground in eastern Ukraine.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said in a statement that “losses amount to up to 80 percent of personnel” in some Russian army and Wagner paramilitary group units. “Evacuation of those killed and wounded by the hostiles is limited or not carried out at all,” she added.

It was not possible to immediately verify the figures independently. But Ukrainian soldiers fighting at the front and Russian prisoners of war have detailed brutal battles in eastern Ukraine, with high casualty tolls, as Russia sends fighters into sacrificial assaults to try to break through Ukrainian lines.

The Wagner group, a private mercenary force, has become a key part of Russia’s military campaign as Moscow presses a new offensive in Ukraine’s east. In its grinding attempts to gain ground, the group has relied on sending wave after wave of inexperienced and poorly trained former prisoners to attack Ukrainian positions, regardless of the high rate of casualties.

Wagner’s fighters have led the monthslong battle to seize the industrial city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and are involved in attacks along other parts of the front. Bakhmut has emerged as a focal point of the war and an important prize for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has poured troops into the battle there. The city is seen as key to his stated goal of seizing the entire area of eastern Ukraine known as Donbas.

Hundreds of Russian fighters have been killed or injured daily in the recent fighting there, according to American officials. It is not clear how many fighters Ukraine has fielded in the war or how many have been killed, given Kyiv’s reluctance to disclose its casualty figures. But, at times, hundreds of Ukrainian troops have also suffered heavy losses, officials say.

Russia has deployed about 320,000 soldiers in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. An additional 150,000 are in training, officials said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, has sought to portray the mercenary force as more effective than Russia’s own army. But in a video released on Thursday and broadcast on WarGonzo, a Russian propaganda channel, Mr. Prigozhin conceded that progress in the campaign for Bakhmut had been slow, and blamed “military bureaucracy.”

Mr. Prigozhin claimed that “structural changes” meant the group could now field fewer soldiers. He had said this month that Wagner would no longer recruit fighters from Russian prisons. In the video, he said that Russian forces might not be able to encircle Bakhmut until March or April.

Ms. Maliar said that Russia’s “offensive is ongoing in east,” with attacks taking place around the clock. “The situation is tense,” she said in the statement, adding, “You can see for yourself what kind of war Russia is waging.”

“However, our soldiers are preventing the enemy from accomplishing their goals and inflicting very serious losses,” she said.