Estimates of the Russian soldiers KIA vary greatly. But it’s not only the total number of losses which is important, but also what kind of specialists were killed. BBC established that Russia has over 900 elite specialists, whose training took years of effort, and mlns of $.
Combined armed units of the Russian military have proven unprepared for assault operations. As a result, tasks that are generally assigned to infantrymen have had to be carried out by special forces, marines, and paratroopers.
E.g. it was reported that #GRU Major Andrey Kunakov died in #Mariupol while ‘sweeping the street’. Usually, street checks in occupied settlements are carried out by second echelon subdivisions. Throwing elite intelligence officers into such missions is strange, to say the least.
Overal BBC managed to confirm the death of 151 servicemen from the GRU. 22% were officers. These figures do not reflect the real number of losses, but they to estimate how many special forces troops are missing from units of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
The loss of special forces officers may be the most painful and difficult to replace.If the commander of a GRU company is killed, he can only be replaced by an officer of the same military specialisation. And it takes 8 years to train one
We also managed to confirm death of 245 members of the Russian National Guard. Most were SF operators or members special police units such as SOBR and OMON. And again 25% are officers 
Both GRU and Rosgvardia SF operators were assigned to tasks which are atypical to them - because many other army units have shown themselves unprepared to participate in battle. And this led to additional losses.
Judging by a monument on the ground of 25th SF unit "Bars' from Kazan, the detachment has lost as many people during the six months of war in Ukraine as it did during 10 years of armed conflict in Chechnya.
We also noticed sufficient losses among elite paratroopers and marines units. E.g. fccording to open source data, the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment from Kostroma lost (as both killed and injured) at least half the estimated strength of the 331st regiment at the start of the war.
3rd GRU Brigade lost at least 47 soldiers. And for every Russian KIA during the war in Ukraine there are approximately 3.5 wounded. So up to half of the reconnaissance companies of this brigade have been put out of action.
Russia may find more new soldiers among prisoners, veterans and older males with low income. But they can barely substitute the loss of all those elite fighters. More data and analysis can be found in my article at bbcrussian.substack.com/p/russia-elite…
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