Half of Putin’s entire elite airborne forces wiped out in first six months of Ukraine war

Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former Moscow military press official, said the specialist Russian Airborne Forces (VDV) sustained heavy losses in the first five to six months of the invasion of UKraine

Russia’s airborne forces lost “40-50 percent of its staff” between February and September last year, a former Moscow military press official has said, as the Kremlin continues to hide its total losses sustained in Ukraine since the invasion. The airborne forces, known as the VDV, are a highly specialised Russian military outfit that led the invasion efforts from the outset of the war, spearheading the failed attempt to take Kyiv in February and March. Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former military press official and creator of the Rybar channel on Telegram, told Russian state TV that the reason members of the VDV are no longer seen on the frontlines is that so many of them were killed in those first few months of offensives.

Source of data and images: daily-express