Moscow denies Russian bloggers’ claims that it lost hundreds of men

Russia’s defence ministry took the unusual step on Monday of denying reports by Russian military bloggers that a naval infantry unit lost hundreds of men in a fruitless offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The state-owned RIA news agency reports  that the ministry rejected the bloggers’ assertions that the 155th marine brigade of the Pacific Fleet suffered “high, pointless losses in people and equipment”. 

RIA quoted the ministry as saying that, on the contrary, the unit advanced five kilometres in 10 days into Ukrainian defensive positions southwest of Donetsk. It denied that the brigade’s commanders showed incompetence.

“Due to the competent actions of the unit commanders, the losses of marines for the given period do not exceed 1% of combat strength, and 7% wounded, a significant part of whom have already returned to duty,” it said.

The rare denial suggested the reports touched a raw nerve at a point in the war’s ninth month when Russian forces are under heavy pressure in partly occupied regions of Ukraine that Moscow has proclaimed as its own territory.

Ukraine, the West and most UN member countries have denounced Russian actions as illegal. 

Russian military bloggers, some of whom command audiences of half a million or more on social media, are increasingly critical of the failings of Moscow’s generals since Ukraine recaptured large parts of the northeast of the country in September.

Reuters