On the outskirts of Kyiv, one of the decisive battles unfolded, which ended in heavy losses for the Russian troops, and as a result, a retreat from the north of Ukraine.
During the defense of Kyiv, the Ukrainian military inflicted heavy losses on the elite Russian troops – paratroopers and marines. This was reported in the investigation of Radio Liberty.
With the help of intelligence from open data, media reports and interviews, journalists were able to establish the losses of Russian troops. The Ukrainian Defense Forces inflicted one of the largest defeats for the RF Armed Forces. As a result of the investigation, it was possible to establish that battalion and company tactical groups from the 5 elite Russian divisions of the Airborne Forces and the Marine Corps suffered heavy losses:
76th “Pskovskaya”; 98th “Ivanovskaya”; 106th “Tula”; 155th Marine Brigade from Vladivostok; 40th Marine Brigade from Kamchatka.
At least 45 soldiers were killed from the 331st Airborne Regiment from Kostroma. 12 of them participated in parades on Red Square in Moscow, 6 fought in Syria, 3 occupied Crimea. It was these soldiers who attacked the Ukrainian military in the Ilovaisk region in 2014.
Also, during the battle for Moshchun, the Russian troops lost about 30 units of military and engineering equipment. The occupiers abandoned a rare armored vehicle from the air defense reconnaissance and control complex with a secret Barnaul-T module. Most of the equipment belonged to the 331st regiment.
The losses of the 155th brigade during the battle for Moshchun amounted to at least 30 people. In particular, the captain of the company Andrey Ivanov was eliminated, who was awarded the title “Hero of Russia” posthumously. In total, 5 military men received the highest rank in the Russian Federation for the defeat in the battle for Moshchun, of which three were posthumous.
The publication notes that it was the high losses of the most combat-ready units that forced the Russian Federation to flee the north of Ukraine, this was not a planned “regrouping”.
Recall that on February 17, General Syrsky said that the battle for Moshchun was the decisive battle in the Kyiv operation.
On February 24, 2023, Budanov stated that the initial plan of the Russian Federation was to capture Kyiv within three days.
