Elite Russian Naval Unit Reacts to Stunning Loss of 300 Men: 'Baffling'

A high-ranking unit in the Russian navy is reportedly reeling after experiencing significant losses in a recent offensive.

The 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade was involved in a Wednesday attack on a Ukrainian military garrison in Pavlivka, a town southwest of the recently annexed Donetsk region, according to The Moscow Times on Monday. The offensive was intended to give Russian forces access to a key supply line in the area.

In the wake of the offensive, the elite naval unit is reportedly pointing the finger at "baffling" leadership decisions that led to the loss of roughly 300 men. These complaints were made in a letter shared by a handful of Russian media figures online, which was sent by the unit to regional leaders in its home region in Russia's Far East.

The introductory paragraph saw the marines of the unit accuse their leaders of being motivated by pay bonuses, promises, and military honors.

"Once again, we were thrown into a baffling offensive by General Muradov and his fellow countryman Akhmedov in order for Muradov to earn bonuses in front of [Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff for the Russian military] and Akhmedov Muradov promised a hero of Russia," the letter reads, as translated by the online program, Yandex. "As a result, we and the Kamchatka Marines are advancing on Pavlivka. As a result of a 'carefully' planned offensive by the 'great commanders', we lost about 300 people killed, wounded, and missing in 4 days. 50 percent of the equipment. This is just our team."

State-run media figures have also acknowledged the existence of the letter, based on one journalist's Telegram post, but they did not go into great detail about its contents.

The letter further accuses their leaders of hiding the true statistics from higher-ups for fear of facing accountability for their failures. They also continued to accuse them of leading men into doomed offensives for the sake of boosting their own prestige.

"The district command together with [the brigade commander] are hiding this... for fear of accountability," the letter circulated continued. "They don't care about anything other than showing off. They call people meat."

In their own report on the Pavlivka offensive, the Ukrainian military said that its troops seized several armored vehicles from Russian forces, which included a Т-80BVM tank.

"Over the past 24 hours, the units of the Defense Forces have repelled attacks of Russian occupiers in the areas of the settlements of Verkhnyokamgyanske, Spirne, Maryinka, Novomykhaylivka, Vodâne, and Pavlivka of Donetsk region," the Ukrainian army said Friday via its official Facebook page.

The statement continued: "The enemy conducts shelling of Defense Forces units along the line of encounter, carries out fortification equipment of the borders in individual directions and conducts air reconnaissance. It continues to strike critical infrastructure and civilian housing, in violation of International Humanitarian Law... and customs of warfare."

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment.