BBC Newsnight has reported that the Ukraine conflict has had a heavy toll on the 331st Guards Parachute Regiment, known as the Kostroma Airborne Regiment, of the Russian army. Since last February’s invasion, investigations by Newsnight have revealed that the price paid by the regiment and its community in the Kremlin’s campaign against its neighbours has been severe. The regiment has been the subject of investigations by the program, which have confirmed 39 fatalities by April last year, 62 by late July, and now the toll has reached 94. The actual number of 331st’s dead is probably much higher, and it is reasonable to assume that the Ukraine war has cost the regiment several hundred soldiers.
The Kostroma Airborne Regiment has been at the forefront of all the main battles in the Kremlin’s campaign against its neighbours. Many of the soldiers were found on V’Kontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, and local media reporting, which the program has cross-referenced with satellite and Google Street View imagery. Some soldiers are from towns outside Kostroma, making it more difficult to track down information about them.
The heavy losses have caused much comment in Kostroma, which lies about 300 km north-east of Moscow and has a population of around a quarter of a million. The call-up of paratroopers, part of Russia’s wider mobilisation, underlines the degree to which the Ukraine campaign has exhausted the country’s professional army, of which the 331st has been a showpiece. The losses, and indeed casualty replacements, including conscripts, mean the unit’s original cadre of soldiers gets smaller, and the overall size of the unit diminishes. The report raises questions about the Kremlin’s management of the war, which has affected not only soldiers but also their families and communities.
Source: BBC
