British intelligence says that the Russian Airborne Division suffered huge losses near the village of Klinki in the Kherson region!
On December 14, British intelligence said that in early December 2023, the newly formed 104th Guards Airborne Division (Airborne Forces) of the Russian army, during the first operation near the village of Klinki in the Kherson region, most likely suffered extremely high losses and did not complete the assigned tasks.
At the time of the incident, the Russian 104th Guards Airborne Division tried to eliminate the Ukrainian army near the village of Klinki on the left bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson Oblast, but because the 104th Guards Airborne Division had just been formed, many airborne troops lacked the necessary combat experience, coupled with the lack of air and artillery support from the troops, and suffered extremely heavy losses during the battle with the Ukrainian army.
In August 2023, the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Admiral Mikhail Teplinsky, announced that the 104th Guards Airborne Division would be reactivated and the 104th Air Assault Division would be formed, under the command of the Dnipro Group of the Russian Army, and deployed in the Kherson region of Ukraine.
Not long ago, Russia's ** Putin directly admitted that dozens of people from the elite assault unit of the Russian armed forces were missing in the village of Klinki, and there were still a few wounded in the Russian armed forces. Contrary to Putin's statement, British intelligence shows that the defeat of the Russian Guards Paratrooper Division in the first battle is much more serious than Putin said, and it can be said that the losses are too heavy.
In the Russian army, only units with meritorious service and strong combat capabilities can be awarded the title of Guards. The Russian 104th Airborne Division was also very glorious in the past, and when it participated in the Chechen War, it was surrounded by Chechen armed forces, and 700 people were eliminated and still did not retreat. However, the current 104th Guards Airborne Division is a new unit that has been in formation for less than 3 months. Andrei Kovalev, a spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said that this new unit is incapable of commanding, has poor discipline and weak motivation.
The Russian army is also very bold in the use of airborne troops. Back in September, the Russian Federation sent additional airborne troops in the Origov direction of the Zaporozhye region to strengthen the 58th Army. At the same time, the Airborne Forces were also treated as infantry to replenish the losses of the ground forces. In October this year, Russia appointed General Mikhailotplinsky as the new commander of the "Dnieper" group in the Kherson direction, and the Russian airborne forces are more frequently used in the southern theater of operations.
On December 9, the Russian Ministry of Defense noted that the Russian Airborne Forces honorably completed all tasks during the special military operation, more than 420,000 servicemen of the Airborne Forces were awarded high-level state awards for their courage and heroism during the special operation, 55 servicemen of the Airborne Forces were awarded the honorable title of Hero of the Russian Federation, and 36 were awarded 3 medals of valor for their performance during the special military operation.
Because of this, the heavy losses suffered in the first battle of the 104th Guards Airborne Division caused a strong controversy within Russia. At present, well-known Russian "military bloggers" have even openly called for the resignation of Colonel-General Mikhailotplinsky, commander of the "Dnieper" troop group. According to British intelligence, "this dealt a blow to Teplinsky's reputation as one of the most capable Russian field commanders in the war." ”
At the moment, Russian officials have not responded to the defeat of the 104th Guards Airborne Division in the first battle. It is worth noting that on December 13, Sky News reported that the latest intelligence from the CIA showed that since the outbreak of the war in February 2022, there have been 3150,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in Ukraine, almost 90% of the number of Russian combat troops in Ukraine, and another 2,200 tanks were destroyed. The CIA report believes that these heavy losses set back the modernization process of the Russian army by 18 years.