Ukraine's Marines At Krynky Slaughter Russian Attackers As Bridgehead Expands

After a command change for Russian forces battling Ukrainian Marines who seized a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro, it was thought that waves of Storm Z Russian cannon fodder sent forward in waves of meat attacks would dislodge the less numerous and lightly armed marines. 

But months later, the Storm Z troops are mostly dead and the Ukrainian Marines are still there. The problem for the Russians now - in addition to superior Ukrainian drone, artillery and electronic warfare capabilities - is that the ostensibly elite Russian paratroopers and marines now serving there are refusing to make such suicidal assaults. Which is why the the Ukrainians have actually expanded their territory. JL

David Axe reports in Forbes:

Three months after Ukrainian marines seized a bridgehead on the Russian-controlled Dnipro left bank, the Russians still haven’t been able to dislodge the marines. And if anything, Russian fortunes around the bridgehead in Krynky might be worse. The poorly-trained, lightly-equipped “Storm-Z” meat attackers Russia was counting on at Krynky are dead, wounded or captured. With Storm Z mostly dead “there is a greater concentration of marines and paratroopers. They consider themselves elite and [don’t] go on such assaults if they don't want to.” Russian commanders couldn’t control their forces before the Storm-Z units got wiped out. A Russian command crisis on the left bank is evident

Three months after Ukrainian marines motored across the Dnipro River and seized a bridgehead on the otherwise Russian-controlled left bank, the Russians still haven’t been able to dislodge the marines.

And if anything, Russian fortunes around the bridgehead in Krynky might get worse. According to Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command, the poorly-trained, lightly-equipped “Storm-Z” assault troopers Russian commanders were counting on to break through Ukrainian defenses in Krynky mostly are dead, wounded or captured.

Storm-Z troopers usually are ex-convicts, draftees or former mercenaries. The stormtroopers are “poorly trained, inadequately dressed, given arms and then sent into attacks without properly air or artillery support,” according to analyst Tom Cooper.

To the Kremlin, they’re cannon-fodder. And in the last year or so, they’ve become integral to Russian war plans. They’re the “meat” in Russia’s “meat assaults”: infantry-led frontal attacks on Ukrainian fortifications.

Where the Russians lately have gained ground, it’s because the meat assaults overwhelmed Ukrainian troops. Where the Russians lately have failed to gain ground, it’s because the Ukrainians defeated the meat assaults—by killing Storm-Z troopers by the hundred.

“In our direction, in particular, the number of ‘Storm Z’-type units has decreased,” Gumenyuk said. “Their losses are very significant. If a group of 10 to 15 people tries to storm our positions, then at least 50 percent are losses on the spot.”

With the Z-Storm troopers dead or in the hospital, the Russian forces on the left bank—a mix of marines, paratroopers and army mechanized troops—can’t just throw meat at the Ukrainians bridgehead. Unless, of course, they opt to be the meat.

“Because of this, they have moral and psychological disorders in their units and disputes of various kinds,” Gumenyuk said. “There is a greater concentration of marines and paratroopers. And they consider themselves elite and [don’t] go on such assaults they don't want to.”

If Gumenyuk is correct, Russian command and control is fraying around Krynky. “There is a lot of confusion in the leadership of the Dnipro group.”

Gumenyuk isn’t alone in her assessment. The Russian command crisis on the left bank was evident as long ago as early December, according to one Russian paratrooper. “The senior command is unable to find a common language with some units,” they wrote at the time.

If Russian commanders around Krynky couldn’t control their forces before the bullet-sponge Storm-Z units got wiped out, imagine their struggle now that better-trained troops have to start soaking up Ukrainian fire.