Russian marines brigade has been almost completely wiped out by Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Kyiv said Monday. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posted on Monday its daily assessment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which began more than 200 days ago.
The update, posted on its Facebook page, said that the Ukrainian military destroyed almost 85 percent of Russia’s 810 marine infantry brigade, which is based in the city of Sevastopol in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula
«After the successful actions carried out by the Defense Forces in the Kherson direction, the enemy suffered significant losses in manpower,»
Ukraine said the rest of the servicemen have an extremely low morale and psychological state, and «massively refuse to return to the combat zone.»
It comes as Ukraine is waging a counteroffensive to retake the southern Kherson region, which was seized by Russia in March.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News in an interview last week that he believed Ukraine will slowly push out all Russian forces from the country’s currently occupied territories.
Russia put on hold a planned referendum on joining Russia amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the region.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed military-civilian regional administration told state television on September 5 that local officials were focusing on protecting Kherson residents.
Ukraine has also had major operational success in Kharkiv, which Russia also seized in the early days of the war.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, said in its assessment on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have recaptured almost all of the Kharkiv region, located in the eastern part of the country, in a rapid counteroffensive.
On Sunday, the head of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, said that the Ukrainian military had liberated more than 40 settlements in the region.
«Kyiv’s long discussion and then an announcement of a counter-offensive operation aimed at Kherson Oblast drew substantial Russian troops away from the sectors on which Ukrainian forces have conducted decisive attacks in the past several days,» the ISW’s daily report said.