Members of an elite Russian unit fighting in Ukraine released a letter of protest on Monday stating the heavy losses they suffered in the attack, which they say was planned “incompetently,” according to Russian news portal Meduza.
“Servicemen of the 155th Marine Brigade sent a letter to the governor of Primorye, Oleg Kozhemyako, complaining about the actions of the command and resulting in heavy losses,” the Meduza portal in Riga reports.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the alleged letter of protest from the Russian military.
The military unit (155th brigade), stationed in the Russian region of Primorye, is considered an elite landing force.
According to a letter published by a Russian digital outlet in exile in English and Russian, the landing party suffered “hundreds of casualties.”
Other sources, writes Meduza, claim that the same unit lost more than half of its armored vehicles in combat.
During an attack on the small town of Pavlovka near Donetsk (eastern Ukraine), Russian troops were attacked by Ukrainian troops who had taken up higher positions on the ground.
More than 300 people died in the clashes, “between the dead and the wounded” or even “300 people died,” according to the Meduza news portal.
Information from the same digital outlet is also mentioned on social media, which also cites an alleged letter from Russian soldiers and some alleged testimonies about the battle, which was supposed to take place at the end of October.
In the letter, members of the elite unit allegedly ask the Governor of Primorye to ask the “Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces” to send an independent commission to investigate the alleged defeat.
The Meduza portal is located in the capital of Latvia, where Russian journalists have been sent since 2014.
The portal has been blocked by the Moscow authorities, and consultations with Russian citizens have been banned since Moscow’s new incursion against Ukraine, which began on February 24.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the alleged letter of protest from the Russian military.