Sky News
A commander of an elite unit of Ukrainian marines has told Sky News the majority of his best trained troops have been injured or killed.
Speaking near the frontline, south of the city of Severodonetsk, company commander Oleksandr said a core of experienced soldiers who had been fighting together since 2018 have been lost.
“My unit was 100% made up of professional soldiers who have a lot of experience. Now, 80% are incapacitated from serious injuries or death,” he says.
In comments which will alarm those backing Ukraine in its four-month long war with Russia, he says he does not know how long his unit can sustain such losses.
“I don’t even know how to answer this question,” Oleksandr says.
“It’s hard. It’s hard but we have no choice.”
Citing the number of people who have lost their lives in the defence of Severodonetsk, the governor of Luhansk, Sergey Haidai, says Ukrainians would begin to withdraw from the devastated city amid continuous Russian air and ground assaults.
Commander Oleksandr says the loss of battle-hardened troops has taken an emotional toll on his unit where members viewed each other as “one big family”.
He now shoulders the responsibility of readying new recruits for battle.
“It’s rare that we just sit here,” he says.
“As a rule, we are always doing shooting practice, tactical training, medicine, engineering practice.
“During active combat we have a lot of wounded and dead so new people replace them and new people are less prepared.
“We have to train constantly for my unit to be well prepared.”
Commander Oleksandr claims Russian combat losses are even higher, taking Sky News to the site of major battle near the town of Avdiivka to make his point.
He says his unit repulsed repeated attempts by Russian armoured columns to break through Ukrainian lines, destroying 19 vehicles, and killing dozens of enemy soldiers.
Next to the burnt-out carcasses of one armoured personnel carrier, he pointed to the shallow graves of two Russian service personnel.
Russia has ‘no interest’ in removing corpses
When asked how many bodies were still lying in these fields, the commander says it is difficult to estimate…
