Fire Brigade and Yanukovych’s Rescuers: AFU Smashed Elite Occupation Army Troops

Some brigades were destroyed several times.

Russia created a number of new military formations for the war against Ukraine, including, for example, the 3rd Army Corps. Some formations simply had to be rebuilt from scratch during the war, because they were completely destroyed in Ukraine.

Thus, during the battles on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian Defence Forces completely defeated the Russian 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade, as well as the 31st and 83rd Air Assault Brigades. Read about Russian brigades completely destroyed during a full-scale war in the article by 24 Channel.

Total defeat of the 72nd Brigade

In the spring of 2022, when the failure of the Russian blitzkrieg in Ukraine became obvious, the Russians began preparing reserves for a longer war. The first new formation was the 3rd Army Corps, to which they initially planned to attract volunteers.

The newly created corps, in particular, included the 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade. It was formed in the Orenburg region of Russia, and already in August 2022, it was deployed to Ukraine - just before the Kharkiv and Kherson counteroffensive operations.

The first place for the deployment of Russian troops in the war in Ukraine was the occupied part of the Kharkiv region. They were defeated first during the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

After this, the 72nd Brigade was transferred to the Kherson region. They started to staff it with mobilized Russians there. Fortunately for them, the brigade managed to escape from Kherson even before the defeat. But the main “adventures” of the new Russian brigade will begin only in 2023 – near Bakhmut.

It was this unit that held back the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Andriivka, located south of Bakhmut. But after a collision with the AFU 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, they suffered a total defeat.

In the battles for Andriivka, the Ukrainian troops eliminated almost the entire infantry of the 72nd Russian Brigade, the heads of reconnaissance and the commanders of three battalions.

In a commentary to 24 Channel, Deputy Commander of the 3rd Brigade Rodion Kudriashov said that he also managed to capture about a platoon of this Russian brigade, including the commander of another battalion.

It is very interesting that the history of the combat confrontation between the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade and the Russian 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade lasted several months. For the first time, part of the Russian brigade was destroyed in the battles near Bakhmut back in May - early June 2023.

Also, the Russian 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade is known not only for its confrontation against Ukrainian troops but also against the Wagnerites. Yevgeny Prigozhin referred to its inaction when, at the beginning of May 2023, he explained the need to withdraw his mercenaries from Bakhmut.

The leader of the Russian cutthroats stated that units of the 72nd Brigade had fled from their positions. In early June, the Wagnerites captured the commander of the Russian brigade, Roman Venevitin, and published a video of his interrogation. The brigade commander made a confession in front of a camera that he ordered his soldiers to shoot at the Wagnerites.

Venevitin was fired from his position. And after Wagner’s captivity, he spoke about torture. The commander also said that the Wagnerites mocked the soldiers of the 72nd Brigade and stole their gear.

Putin's Fire Brigade

Not only the 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade of Russia were defeated in the battles for Andriivka and Klishchiivka. The 31st Separate Air Assault Brigade from Ulyanovsk, which is called Vladimir Putin’s Fire Brigade, was also defeated.

The brigade was nicknamed that way for its participation in numerous wars involving Russia. It is the Ulyanovsk paratroopers who are always sent to “extinguish fires” where the situation is not in favour of the Russian troops.

Before the war in Ukraine, the Russian 31st Air Assault Brigade participated in the Second Chechen War, as well as in the occupation of Georgia and Abkhazia. It was the soldiers of this brigade who were among the first to enter Ukraine and they took part in the capturing of the Crimean parliament wearing the Berkut [the Ukrainian special police - Ed.] uniform on February 26, 2014.

Already in August of the same year, the Russian 31st Brigade was redeployed to Donbas to “extinguish fires” again when Ukrainian troops and volunteers seized the initiative in battles with pro-Russian militants. It was the troops of this brigade that took part in the battles for Ilovaisk, which ended with the shooting of the Green Corridor by Russian troops.

Once again, Russian paratroopers from the 31st Brigade were among the first to enter the territory of Ukraine on February 24 from Belarus. The Ulyanovsk paratroopers suffered their first defeat in the Kyiv region- during the battles for Hostomel.

After the defeat in the Kyiv region and the flight of Russian troops from the North of Ukraine, the 31st Air Assault Brigade was sent to Volnovakha, Donetsk region. Here, the Ulyanovsk paratroopers also suffered significant losses in battles against the 24th King Danylo Halytskyi Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

But real defeat awaited Putin’s Fire Brigade already near Bakhmut in the battles for Klishchiivka and Andriivka, the 31st Russian Brigade was really destroyed. There are hundreds of officially confirmed dead, most of whom are officers. Brigade Commander Andrei Kondrashkin was among them.

The 83rd Air Assault Brigade from Ussuriysk was another Russian brigade destroyed in battles on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut. Its path to successful elimination began at the beginning of a full-scale invasion. 200 killed fighters of this brigade were buried in Russia as of March 28, 2022.

And just 4 days later Russia lost the Deputy Commander of the 83rd Air Assault Brigade, Vitaly Slabtsov. The place of the first mass liquidation of Ussuriysk paratroopers was the Kyiv region. It was this brigade that was based in Bucha and was involved in numerous atrocities by the Russian army.

Slabtsov did not become the last deputy commander of the 83rd Brigade killed in Ukraine. Already in October 2022, his successor Oleg Tashmatov shared the same fate.

The Air Assault Brigade from Ussuriysk suffered a new defeat in and near Klishchiivka. According to the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky, this defeat was total.

“In the battles in the Bakhmut direction, some of the most trained and best units of the enemy were defeated and completely lost their combat capability - the 72nd Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, the 31st and 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigades. Of course, we continue to move forward. This is just another step towards the complete liberation of our territories,” said General Syrsky after the liberation of Andriivka and Klishchiivka.

Absolutely high from Russia

The 155th Marine Brigade from distant Vladivostok fully deserved the honorary title of the “absolute high of the Russian army”.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (the US), as of March 2023, this brigade was destroyed 8 times and rebuilt virtually from scratch. Just think about it: 8 times!

Traditionally for many Russian military units, marines from Vladivostok began their participation in a full-scale war from the Kyiv region. In particular, the brigade took part in the battles for Moshchun near Kyiv.

The losses of the 155th Brigade were estimated at many hundreds of people even in the Kyiv region: killed and wounded. By the way, fighters of the brigade were also involved in the killings of civilians in Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin.

Once again the brigade lost its personnel and combat effectiveness in November 2022 in the battles near Pavlivka, Donetsk region. And Vuhledar later. Only during the winter of 2022-2023, the brigade was defeated several times and was forced to restore its combat effectiveness almost from scratch.

In fact, it’s even surprising how the Russian command managed to transport the bodies of the soldiers of this brigade to Vladivostok and bring fresh manpower from there. After all, the distance from Vladivostok to Vuhledar is more than 9,700 kilometres.

One of the biggest defeats of the 155th Brigade occurred in January 2023. As a result of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by the Russian command, the Ukrainian military defeated a huge column of Russian troops. Footage of dozens of Russian equipment and hundreds of killed occupiers spread all over the world.

The personnel of the 155th Marine Brigade have repeatedly complained about ineffective command tactics. There is confirmed information that they appealed to Vladimir Putin. The military complained that instead of trying to cordon off Vuhledar, the command simply sent soldiers on massive infantry assaults, which ended in catastrophic losses.

It seems that the military and political leadership of Russia has some sense of humour at least because Putin awarded the 155th Brigade with the Order of Zhukov on May 17, 2023, in honour of the bloody marshal known for the fact that he was not averse the losses of thousands, tens or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers to achieve goals.

In Vuhledar, by the way, the Russians were never able to achieve any of their goals. Although the city was destroyed by the Russian army, it has not yet been conquered.

Yanukovych's rescuers from Sevastopol

The Ukrainian offensive is costly for Russia not only in the vicinity of Bakhmut. In the southern direction, the enemy is also making significant efforts to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops and is also suffering significant losses.

In an interview with The War Zone, published on September 22, Kyrylo Budanov, the GUR [Ukrainian Defence Intelligence - Ed.] head, said that the Ukrainian troops completely defeated the 810th Russian Marine Brigade in Zaporizhzhia. It is part of the Black Sea Fleet and has been based in Ukrainian Sevastopol since 1967.

Since the brigade remained in Ukrainian Crimea even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is not at all surprising that its military actively participated in the occupation of the peninsula in early 2014. Moreover, it was from the base of the 810th Brigade that on February 23, 2014, Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia.

Later, during the occupation of Crimea, the brigade participated in the blockade of the Belbek airfield and the capture of the Kirovske air base. The brigade took part in the occupation of the mainland south of Ukraine after February 24, 2022. That's when the elimination story began.

The Ukrainian military successfully destroyed the commander of the 810th brigade, Alexei Sharov on March 22, 2022, during the battles for Mariupol. A Ukrainian sniper killed him in the city.

A little later that year, the 810th Russian Brigade was transferred to the Kherson region, where it was supposed to resist the Ukrainian counteroffensive on Kherson. However, they failed.

On September 12, 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the first total defeat of the Russian brigade from Sevastopol. To date, the brigade has lost about 85% of its troops. Those who managed to survive refused to return to the combat zone.

Somewhat later, partial mobilization was announced in Russia, which also took place in Crimea. It was possible to renew the composition of the brigade at the expense of the newly mobilized. Then the Marines of the 810th brigade returned to the front of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Exactly a year later, the brigade from Sevastopol was completely destroyed by the Ukrainian troops for the second time. This is not surprising, since the 810th brigade tried to hold the Ukrainian offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region during June-September 2023.

“The 810th Brigade repeatedly suffered significant losses. The Ukrainian forces destroyed this unit previously, after which the Russian military restored it,” noted the Institute for the Study of War.

“Cargo 200 - We’re Together”

The index number of this motorized rifle brigade clearly hints that it was created in order to be completely destroyed in Ukraine [Cargo 200 is a military code word for corpses transportation - Ed.]. We are talking about the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade from the distant Russian Arctic.

Although the brigade is part of the Russian Northern Fleet, unfortunately for its fighters, it also suffered the fate of participating in the war against Ukraine. Even before the Russian-Ukrainian war, in 2012, the Russian MoD planned to transform the brigade into an Arctic one, which would be ready for combat in the Arctic, but in return, it suffered numerous defeats during the fighting in the Kharkiv region.

The 200th Brigade was significantly defeated less than a week after the start of the full-scale war.

Already on March 1, 2022, the Ukrainian troops destroyed an entire battalion-tactical group formed of the 200th brigade during another attempt by the Russians to break into Kharkiv, and about 30 units of enemy equipment were also destroyed there.

The 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade is considered as elite soldiers among the Russian troops. Therefore, it often gets the best and most modern weapons and gear.

However, in September 2022, this played a cruel joke on the Kremlin. Russian troops, including the 200th Brigade, retreated from the Kharkiv region so quickly that most of the weapons were just abandoned.

The Russian command did not really like this “manoeuvre”, so at the end of September the 200th Brigade was sent to recapture Kupiansk. As a result, the brigade was defeated and temporarily lost its combat effectiveness.

But the adventures of the 200th Brigade did not end with the Kharkiv region. After the resumption, the brigade was sent to hold on the counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces in the vicinity of Bakhmut. The “Arctic” troops took positions in the area between Bakhmut and Soledar and, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, suffered a new defeat in September 2023.

“There is information about huge personnel losses of the 200th Brigade. A military hospital has been established in the Central City Hospital of the city of Pervomaisk, Luhansk region. More than 200 soldiers of the Russian occupation forces, mainly from the 200th Brigade, are being treated there,” the General Staff reported on September 26.

Kremlin eliminated them to hide evidences of atrocities in Bucha

Another Russian unit that began its participation in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade from the Khabarovsk region. The military of this brigade occupied the village of Andriivka, Bucha district. During the month of occupation of the small village, the Russians killed 17 Ukrainian civilians there. Many others were tortured and mocked.

After the liberation of the village, the bodies of those shot and tortured were found here. The body of a volunteer of the Ukrainian Red Cross organization, Yevhen Piskotsin, was found dead with his hands tied behind his back in the village. Many victims were shot right in the middle of the streets.

One of the soldiers of the 64th Brigade, Daniil Frolkin, in August 2022, admitted to numerous crimes committed by Russians in Andriivka. The war criminal admitted that he shot 46-year-old Ukrainian Ruslan Yaremchuk.

After the killings of civilians and the escape of Russian troops from the Kyiv region, Vladimir Putin on April 18 awarded the 64th Brigade with the Guards title. As noted in the Kremlin, “for numerous heroism and courage.” It seems that this is what they call acts of genocide in Russia.

The 64th brigade received what it deserved just a few months after its atrocities - in June 2022, Ukrainian fighters defeated the Russian military in the battles for Izyum, Kharkov region. Russian propagandists said that along with this unit, another one was destroyed - the 38th motorized rifle brigade from the Amur region.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War then admitted that the Kremlin wilfully sent the 64th Brigade to be totally eliminated. All in order to remove those involved in atrocities in the Bucha district of the Kyiv region with the help of Ukrainian troops.

During the summer of 2022, the brigade was restored almost from scratch and immediately returned to the Kharkiv region - precisely for the Ukrainian counteroffensive. As a result, it was the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade that suffered the greatest losses during the retreat of Russians from the Kharkiv region.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as of September 22, 2022, the Russian brigade lost more than 90% of its personnel in the battles for the Kharkiv region. Then the Russian command even considered the option of completely disbanding the brigade, and they handed over their weapons to the FSB border guards.

However, the Russians know how to fight with only the number of troops. So the brigade was restored once again. Currently, the military of the 64th Russian Brigade is located near Huliaipole. By the way, the distance from the Russian Knyaze-Volkonsky, which is the permanent base of the brigade, to the city in Zaporizhzhia is an incredible 9,000 kilometers.

To be continued…

Of course, the mentioned Russian brigades are not the only ones that suffered serious losses during battles in Ukraine. In addition to the regular Russian troops, the Wagner PMC also suffered numerous losses during the battles for Bakhmut, and at the beginning of a full-scale invasion, due to colossal losses, the occupiers mobilized almost the entire population of the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to the General Staff, the Ukrainian Defence Forces had already eliminated almost 280,000 Russian occupiers by the end of September 2023. It is about 45 brigades, the personnel of which were 100% destroyed. Or 7 destroyed combined arms armies.

At the same time, the Kremlin continues its efforts to restore the combat effectiveness of those units that have already lost it and to create new military formations. An example is the 25th Combined Arms Army, which is now being formed in Russia, and some of its units have already been transferred to the Lyman-Kupiansk direction.

This fact indicates that Russia is neither going to reckon with the huge losses in Ukraine nor give up the crazy idea of seizing the country. To do this, they will use the only method available to the Kremlin - to achieve their goals with only one advantage - the number of troops.