Hundreds of starving and abandoned Russian soldiers are being killed by Ukrainian drones in the Dnieper Delta “death zone,” according to a report.
The river, surrounded by low-lying marshy islands, is divided between Russian control on the left bank and Ukrainian control on the right.
At least 5,100 Russians have died in the area since January this year, some from starvation, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Footage shared by the Ukrainian Marine Corps’ 40th Coastal Defense Brigade shows several improvised Russian boats approaching the coastal swamp, only to be torn apart by Ukrainian suicide drones.
“This area is a death zone for Russia,” said Col. Oleksandr Zavtonov of Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps. The telegraph. “There is nowhere to hide.”
He added: “The prisoners that our fighters recently took on the islands spoke of the impossibility of giving them food and drinking water, and that they have to drink water from the river.”
The area, one of the deadliest and most dangerous fronts, may be valuable for observation and establishing radio networks for unmanned aerial operations. Controlling the area can allow soldiers to affect resupply and small boat movements.
However, it leaves the soldiers completely exposed.
“It’s a large area of water; there’s nowhere to hide on the islands themselves, and the terrain is mostly swampy, and units crossing them will be too vulnerable,” he explained.
Desperate troops appear to be trying to camouflage themselves using reeds and mud as they try to return to Russian-held areas across the water.
“Enemy advances are carried out by small groups trying to camouflage themselves, a tactic that was not seen at the beginning of the war,” Oksana Kuzan, head of the analytical department at the Center for Cooperation and Security of Ukraine, told the publication.
An aviron rower on the Dnieper River, next to Trukhaniv Island, on October 17, amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine (AFP/Getty)
“Russian military units remaining on the islands of the Dnipro delta face serious problems with food, ammunition and rotations.”
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the largest troop recruitment in nine years, mandating that 135,000 people be recruited into the army by December 31, 2025.
Ukrainian intelligence estimated that 180,000 Russian military personnel could be made up of former prisoners, whom Putin made eligible for conscription in 2022.
The economistThe meta-estimate of Russian casualties from the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 to January 2025 was between 137,000 and 228,000 soldiers killed. As of October 13 of this year, it estimates that this figure has increased by 60 percent, to between 190,000 and 480,000 deaths, with between 984,000 and 1,438,000 registered victims.