Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian forces on the Dnipro river are suffering huge casualties – which one soldier puts at 80% – and an acute shortage of boats and supplies as they attempt to make crossings against fierce Ukrainian opposition. ⬇️

2/ Since Ukraine reconquered the right bank of the Dnipro in late 2022, Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian positions in the unoccupied part of the Kherson region. In recent months, there have been frequent unsuccessful attempts to cross the river.

3/ Russia's difficulties in the area are highlighted by a video appeal to Vladimir Putin recorded by Ilya Leonidovich Nezhivenko, a member of Russia's 810th Separate Marine Brigade, before he was sent on a combat mission from which he appears to have not returned.

4/ He says that his unit is trying to "cross only [at] one place. About 600 people have already died there. Those who managed to get to the other side are still missing – a lot [are] 200 [dead]."

5/ "Those who are 300 [wounded], they are not being taken out. The battalion commander ordered not taking out the wounded."

6/ He says that most of those who try to cross are killed, due to having to make the crossing in the open under constant fire. "On this crossing, out of ten people, only two survive who cross. The rest are 200." He asks for his commanders to be punished.

7/ Very high casualties have also been reported by the Ukrainian-Crimean resistance movement ATESH. In December 2024, it reported that an attempt by units of the 70th Motorized Rifle Division to storm the right bank "ended in disaster".

8/ "Entire platoons did not return, which seriously undermined the morale of the servicemen. Despite this, the military leadership continues to send its people to certain death, hoping to find a more advantageous place for the next landing."

9/ As a result, it says, "Many soldiers are trying to avoid being sent to the assault boats. Many are making desperate attempts to get to the hospital, to pay [bribes] for transfer to other positions, or deliberately damaging equipment and weapons."

10/ ATESH says that Russian "soldiers intentionally break engines, puncture rubber boats and even transmit coordinates to the Ukrainian Defence Forces about the location of boat bases and fuel reserves." They are also said to be deliberately injuring themselves.

11/ According to ATESH, the 61st Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade has imposed increasingly harsh punishments on men refusing to participate in assaults on the Dnipro river islands, downstream of Kherson city. Neither side is said to be fully in control of the islands.

12/ It reports: "In December, several servicemen who refused to participate in a poorly organized assault on one of the Dnipro islands in the Kherson region were thrown into a pit as an example [to others]."

13/ "They spent three days there without water or food, and then they were sent to another assault, where they died. Their bodies were never evacuated, and now they are listed as missing.

14/ "The soldiers' psyche is at its limit, and commanders are increasingly using physical violence as a tool of pressure. Threats, beatings and the "pit" have become commonplace.

15/ "If earlier such measures were used for serious offences, now punishments are used for the slightest reason."

16/ Being sent to the islands is said to have become a form of punishment, due to the extremely low chances of survival there. ATESH reports that in recent days, with a ceasefire possibly close at hand, Russian soldiers have become even more reluctant to take part in crossings.

17/ "Servicemen of the 24th and 26th Motorised Rifle Regiments are massively sabotaging orders to storm. The reason is simple – too many of their comrades have not returned from similar operations and are still in the waters of the Dnipro.

18/ "There is talk among the personnel about a possible freeze in hostilities, which further undermines morale. They understand that it is pointless to die for an attempt to seize a few square meters of someone else's land if they can wait for the hostilities to stop.

19/ "In addition, the boats on which the stormtroopers are sent are in a deplorable state – many of them have already broken down several times due to sabotage. The soldiers, realizing that the equipment is unreliable, try to avoid being sent to the islands."

20/ Nezhivenko's video and other reports corroborate the lack of equipment, which he says the soldiers have to buy at their own expense. He says:

"Our supplies are terrible. The battalion commander said, buy your own boats, buy your own medicine, that’s it."

21/ "Buy bulletproof vests, buy everything, i.e., everything at your own expense ... The ministry [of defence] doesn’t provide us with anything. It only provides uniforms."

22/ These difficulties are mirrored in the situation faced by Russia's Dnipro river flotilla, established a year ago on 20 March 2024. It comprises a motley mixture of boats confiscated from local people, vessels contributed by the 810th Marine Brigade, and naval patrol craft.

23/ Appeals posted online by Russian soldiers illustrate a shortage of everything from nails and rubber boots to food and cooking equipment. The Russians are suffering from constant drone attacks which damage and destroy their boats and supplies. /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/ne_zhdi_novost…
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/5936
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/5988
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/6027
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/6150
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/6261
🔹 t.me/atesh_ua/6459
🔹 kyivindependent.com/on-a-forgotten…
🔹 ru.krymr.com/a/nuhna-yeda-v…