Russia’s Spetsnaz (short for the Russian phrase “Подразделения Специального Назначения” — “Special Forces Units” — no)) have been exhausted by President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing several classified intelligence documents. which the American poured into the network. .

The Washington Post reports that documents obtained through social media platform Discord cite intercepted intelligence that says the 346th Special Forces Brigade has lost nearly its entire unit, “only 125 active personnel out of 900 deployed,” according to CNN.

US officials believe that the large number of casualties suffered by Russia will have a dramatic effect in Ukraine and anywhere else where its forces are operating. And US officials believe that it will take up to ten years to restore highly trained troops, The Post reports.

He also published satellite images from the leaked documents, which – although inconclusive – indicate a sharp reduction in vehicles among the fleet of the 22nd Special Forces Brigade in southwestern Russia.

The images show a contrast in the size of its fleet between November 2021 and November 2022, The Post reported.

CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for comment. CNN also reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russian special forces are currently stationed in the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country, where the fiercest and fiercest fighting is currently taking place.

Originally conceived as a response to NATO’s nuclear threat, modern special forces units have become the elite of the post-war Soviet army. Prepared for shock missions behind enemy lines, the Spetsnaz troops attracted the attention of military experts and public opinion in the West only in the 80s, after their participation in the war in Afghanistan, where they fought effectively in difficult conditions, which increased (after 2001) serious problems for the American army, which is much better equipped from a technical point of view, reports Historia.ro.

After the end of the Second World War, the special units of the Red Army went into decline.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Thursday that “despite the fact that the enemy has concentrated its most professional units in Bakhmut, including Wagner fighters, airborne assault units and special forces, the Russians cannot achieve their goals there.”

Russian special forces were poorly deployed early in the invasion, especially around Kyiv, and suffered heavy casualties.

In the early days of the war, CNN’s Matthew Chance reported live how the Russian Airborne Forces (Airborne Forces) engaged Ukrainian forces in a firefight at Antonov Airport in Gostomel, a suburb of Kyiv, before being heavily defeated and retreating in early April.

The Russian invasion was also marked by an exaggerated number of casualties among high-ranking Russian officers.