Ukraine Army Destroys Russian Navy Group, Killing 36; Commander Captured

The Armed Forces of Ukraine defeated a Russian navy group in the Kharkiv region, killing more than 30 Russian soldiers and capturing one of the unit’s commanders.

The “Kedr” reconnaissance group of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine conducted a special operation in the village of Dementiivka in Kharkiv recently where it destroyed a reconnaissance group (SRG) of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.

About 36 Russian soldiers were killed in the attack, with many left injured. The Ukrainian army also captured Stanislav Trutnev, a Zaporizhzhia native who served as the platoon commander of the Russian SRG, as reported by the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on its official Telegram channel Monday.

The Chief Intelligence Directorate added that Trutnev, who was born in 1989, previously worked as a serviceman with the 140th Special Purpose Anti-Submarine Sabotage Forces unit of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy. He is now being held in a medical institution in Ukraine where he is receiving medical care.

Since the war began in February, Russia has suffered massive military losses. As of Monday, at least 38,450 Russian soldiers had been killed in the war, according to estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

The Russian army has also been plagued with low morale among troops. Last week, the Secret Service of Ukraine shared a recording of an intercepted conversation between a Russian soldier and his wife. In the audio, the soldier complained to his partner that he had been sent to be "slaughtered" in the war, adding that Ukrainian forces are prepared.

“Here, you know, they just send us to slaughter. It's not a smart way at all,” the soldier said in the audio. “[Ukrainian soldiers are] waiting for you, watching, expecting you. They've adjusted guns to these f**king trenches. You reach there, some point, and they're f**king watching you! So many of our tanks have been burned here, so many pieces of equipment, damn it.”

The soldier added that the Russian army did not have specialists capable of using their equipment to fire back at Ukrainians, noting that their forces have fired 20 carriages of projectiles “into f**king nothing.”