Russia's 155th Naval Infantry At Pokrovsk Doing What It Does Best: Dying By Dozens

Russia is desperately trying to save the latest iteration of its collapsing 18 month offensive at Pokrovsk, so it is rushing units from other sectors like Sumy and Zaporizhzhia to the apocalyptic wreckage of that Donetsk front. 

Among its other problems is the fact that the Russiand dont seem either than good - or particularly interested - in sharing intelligence with the new units, leaving them to make some egregious tactical errors that are adding to the casualty and destruction counts there. The 155th Naval Infantry, which has been rebuilt as many as five times after previous decimations was simply the latest Russian unit to learn the hard way that this is not a front where Russia has any sort of advantage. So, as one observer put it, they are doing what they do best: dying. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

Russia’s notorious 155th Naval Infantry Brigade rushed from Sumy Oblast in northern Ukraine to Donetsk Oblast and joined the Russian military's desperate effort to shore up its collapsing salient northeast of Pokrovsk. They are already suffering heavy casualties in a sector they clearly do not understand. Attacking in armored vehicles along drone-patrolled roads east of Pokrovsk, the 155th was immediately spotted. Ukraine's combined firepower “inflicted devastating losses on the assault armored group, which could not reach the forward positions of the 79th Air Assault Brigade and was completely defeated. ”“The 155th were transferred to Pokrovsk and instantly started doing what they do best: die.” 

The Russian navy’s notorious 155th Naval Infantry Brigade has rushed from Sumy Oblast in northern Ukraine to Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine—and joined the Russian military’s desperate effort to shore up its collapsing salient northeast of the fortress city of Pokrovsk.

The results, so far, have been predictably tragic for one of the most casualty-prone Russian formations in the 43-month wider war on Ukraine. “The 155th were transferred to the Pokrovsk area and instantly started doing what they do best: die,” American analyst Andrew Perpetua quipped.

Attacking in armored vehicles along dangerously exposed roads just east of Pokrovsk on the evening of Aug. 28, the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade was immediately spotted from the air by the Ukrainian state security service’s Ivan Franko Group.

The group attacked with its own explosive first-person-view drones—and also called in rockets from nearby High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The combined firepower “inflicted devastating losses on the enemy’s assault armored group, which ultimately could not reach the forward positions of the 79th [Air Assault] Brigade and was completely defeated,” the group reported.

Ivan Franko counted five destroyed vehicles and two abandoned ones. “The enemy’s manpower losses as a result of the complex strike of FPV and HIMARS amounted to 50 to 100 men,” the group claimed. The best of Russia’s available naval infantry and airborne forces—are already suffering heavy casualties in a sector they clearly do not understand. Attacking in armored vehicles along drone-patrolled roads just east of Pokrovsk on the evening of Aug. 28, the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade was immediately spotted from the air by the Ukrainian state security service’s Ivan Franko Group.

The Ivan Franko Group attacked with its own explosive first-person-view drones—and also called in rockets from nearby High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The combined firepower “inflicted devastating losses on the enemy’s assault armored group, which ultimately could not reach the forward positions of the 79th [Air Assault] Brigade and was completely defeated,” the Ivan Franko Group reported.