Heavy Russian casualties near Vovchansk: majority of brigade lost, tank regiments depleted, says Ukrainian official
According to the spokesperson of the tactical group of troops “Kharkiv”, Vitaliy Saranets, Russia's 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade has suffered significant losses in Vovchansk. Additionally, the 83rd and 157th Tank Regiments have also faced substantial losses.
Since the beginning of the offensive in northern Kharkiv region, the Russian Armed Forces have lost a significant portion of their brigade in Vovchansk and have heavily depleted two tank regiments, revealed Saranets in an interview with LIGA.net.
Saranets pointed out that from May 10, the Russians lost a significant portion of their 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade in Vovchansk. In addition, the 83rd and 157th Tank Regiments have suffered major losses.
Military sources report that a typical Russian motorized rifle brigade has up to 5,000 personnel, while tank regiments are equipped with 94 vehicles. Saranets added that Russian brigades in the Kharkiv direction sometimes lose several dozen troops a day.
Due to these losses, the Russians are now forced to deploy new reserves or repurpose units from other fronts.
"A brigade or regiment comes in, attacks for several weeks, suffers intense casualties, plugs gaps with reserves, slowly reconstitutes assault groups, reducing their number or the number of personnel involved," Saranets explained.
According to the military spokesperson, if the Russians deploy reserves, they do so within "a few hours," but it takes several days to redeploy units from other directions.
Saranets noted that it is unlikely that Russian reinforcements come in fully equipped. The personnel losses could reach 40% or more. By military standards, a unit is considered non-operational at 30% losses.
Saranets stated that Ukrainian forces have engaged nearly all Russian units currently fighting in the Kharkiv region before. For example, the 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet engaged in looting in Kyiv region in 2022.
"The 18th Motorized Rifle Division of the 11th Army Corps also fought in the Kharkiv region in 2022. Virtually all of them have participated in the war against Ukraine in some capacity," said Saranets.
Previously, reports indicated that Russian forces entered Kharkiv region from another direction and advanced. Russian military achieved success in Hluboke in the northern Kharkiv region, with positional battles continuing in various settlements over the course of the day, analysts from ISW reported.