The war in Ukraine has gutted Russia’s top military units, whose commanders have used them against front-line forces rather than for the clandestine missions they were intended for.
Leaked intelligence documents indicate Russia’s Spetsnaz commandos have suffered massive numbers of dead and wounded since the start of the war, now in its second year, according to news reports.
Spetsnaz forces were to be part of a mission to kill or kidnap Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The operation was aborted.
It could take at least a decade to rebuild the units because of the high level of training it takes to become a Spetsnaz soldier, according to the documents leaked online through the Discord messaging platform, reported The Washington Post. The documents indicate one unit lost about 800 soldiers from a 900-member brigade.
The Pentagon documents surfaced allegedly at the hands of Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He’s expected to make his initial appearance in federal court in Boston on Friday to face charges he leaked hundreds of classified documents on the Discord server.
