Amidst raging firefights in the east as Russia and Ukraine enter the fourth month of the war, the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that they have destroyed Russia’s 35th Combined Arms Army as a fighting unit in Izyum, Kharkiv.
The news was first reported by Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Andriy Yermak, who shared that the 35th Combined Arms Army indeed had been all but destroyed in Izyum. While many would doubt these claims as the Ukrainians can come up with their own propaganda as information wars have become a staple of the war, the report was also verified by a pro-Russian military blogger and The Institute for the Study of War.
The pro-Russian military blogger from the Luhansk region goes by the name Boytsovyi Kot Murz or “Murz,” who apparently has a substantial following. In his blog post, he reveals several details that have not been shared before.
The blogger said that the Russian forces did not account for the challenges they would encounter in the Izyum woods, which led to the destruction of the 64th and 38th Separate Guard Motor Rifle Brigade (from the 35th Combined Arms Army), both of which have less than 100 servicemen combined. A brigade-sized infantry unit in Russia would normally have between 900 men for an armored brigade and 2,000 men for an infantry brigade.