So, what happened in vuhledar . People back home wanted answers. Bbc eye looked into The Black Berets� claims. Its difficult to interview soldiers or theirfamilies in russia. They face years in jail for discrediting the army. But online, theres a trail of evidence. Piecing together online testimonies, Death Records and battle footage, we found that the 155 did suffer heavy losses in vuhledar. We found reasons why these men died. Such kind of Breaching Operations are suicide. And we found out what happened to those caught up in the battle. Ramaz gorgadze was a stubborn young russian. His mother says he was born this way, an iron character with georgian roots. She says he was impossible to argue with. He grew up like any other young russian in a small village called yagodnoye, located in russias far east province. As a young teenager, he developed a passion for rap. Raps in russian he took this passion with him during his one Year National service. Raps. And became Popular Online for his talent. Raps in russian but in february 2022, Vladimir Putin, russias president , launched a full scale invasion of ukraine. At first, professional soldiers were sent in. But by september, many of them had died. New blood was needed to refill the ranks. On september 21st, putin announced a partial mobilisation, calling up the men who had done their national service. The next day, the young rapper ramaz posted his Conscription Notice on instagram. Before leaving, he wrote a song about the war. But in ramaz� head, it was not that simple. He told his mother that he had friends in ukraine and that the worst outcome would not be to die. But to shoot at people who are like him. In late september, ramaz left his home. Together with other men, he travelled more than 2,000 kilometres to a Military Base in the region of primorye. There, Hejoined An Elite Unit The Black Berets from the 155th marine brigade. Ukrainian authorities accused some of these Men Of War Crimes in bucha at the start of the war. This brigade is championed by primorye� s governor, 0leg kozhemyako. Governors like him facilitated the mobilisation across russia. But kozhemyako developed a reputation for being an enthusiastic recruiter. At the end of october, ramaz completed his short training and was deployed to eastern ukraine. He arrived in the town of volnovakha, where the 155 was staged. 0n hisjourney, he sent updates to his mother. In volnovakha, the 155 was preparing for an imminent offensive on the strategic town of vuhledar. It sits on an elevated terrain in the Donetsk Region of donbas. Many russian speaking ukrainians live in that area. These are the people Vladimir Putin vowed to liberate. Marina and herfamily had their home in vuhledar. On october 28th, ramaz and his comrades from the 155 prepared for the assault. He sent a last message to his mother, svetlana. For days, the battle raged on. Gunfire and by october 30th, the Russian Ministry of defence announced that their troops had reached the southern outskirts of the village of pavlivka, a town just south of vuhledar. From the command post, this looked like a successful operation. Russia was gaining ground in donbas. But on the battlefield, The Black Berets were not celebrating. They were caught in a deathtrap. Testimonies like this one started to emerge online. Ramaz, the young rapper from yagodnoye, stopped sending news after the assault. His mother became worried and started looking for him. 0n governor kozhemyako� s telegram channel, other families complained directly to him. And on november 3rd, he received a message like no other. A letter addressed to him and written by The Black Berets themselves. The soldiers denounced being thrown into an incomprehensible offensive. They claimed that 300 men were killed, wounded or went missing in four days. And they also wrote that their inept commanders called them meat. At the end, The Black Berets asked for an independent investigation. The letter went viral. Four days later, the Russian Ministry of defence issued a rare public denial. Governor kozhemyako, the man the soldiers had pinned their hopes on, also responded to the appeal. He added that he shared the letter with the military prosecutors office, but he also denied the number of losses. Our investigation has uncovered evidence that supports The Black Berets� account. Russian authorities havent released official data about casualties since September 2022 but bbc russias 0lga ivshina has the most accurate count available. Since the first day of war, bbc russia has been working together with independent website mediazona and a team of volunteers to find out and confirm the number of russian servicemen killed in ukraine. We have been using open source material, official statements, social media posts, Media Reports and pictures from cemeteries within russia. We worked with this team to identify deaths in the 155 brigade since the beginning of the war. When we plotted them on a graph, two clear spikes emerged in 2022. The first one represents the assault on kyiv at the start of the conflict. But the highest one is in november 2022, during the offensive on pavlivka and vuhledar. We found that at least 60 black berets were killed or went missing in the months following the start of the assault on october 28th. Most happened after their letter was sent to governor kozhemyako. We think that the real number of losses in 155 is definitely higher than the figure we have because we cant always attribute certain people to the unit and also, we only rely on open source material, so we believe that the real number of total losses on the russian side is probably at least two times higher than the figure we have. So, if we put aside the first two weeks of the invasion, which have seen a tremendous rate of losses, then this october and November Battle For Pavlivka probably can be named as one of the highest concentration of forces for a single unit. Why were the 155 losses so high in that time period . The black berets� letter mentions an incomprehensible offensive. They say their commanders planned to capture the town by rushing through woodlands, where the enemy was waiting for them. They also claim the terrain made them easy targets for the Ukrainian Gunnery. We analysed hundreds of videos from the battles around vuhledar. We found Russian Troops making the errors described in the letter. These three videos, published days after the 155 letter, are clear examples. Shot from a ukrainian reconnaissance drone, they show russian attacks along the same road, entering pavlivka from yehorivka. It was widely reported the 155th led the assault on pavlivka in early november, with the support of the 40th Marine Brigade and localforces. The first video shows two russian bmp 3s attacking pavlivka without any visible support. At the start of the video, one bmp 3 is hit. Despite this, the two vehicles keep going. They reach the first houses and stop here. The soldiers disembark and take up position. But they dont know that this drone is watching them. Later, the Camera Zooms Out and theyre struck by ukrainian artillery. In the second video, a russian t 80bv tank attempts a breakthrough on its own on the same road. Again, a drone sees it coming. The tank is hit once but keeps going, running into the remains of another russian vehicle. It then stops and the ukrainians take it out. The third video shows another lone russian tank again rushing through the same road. A missile nearly hits the tank but it keeps going and drives by the remains of the two vehicles weve seen before. The tank is then struck and hits the tree line. Tayfun ozberk was a Turkish Naval officer for 16 years. He worked alongside russian marines in operation black sea harmony in 200a. We showed him videos of the battle to understand the russian behaviour on the field. You see that location was hit. And for him these images reflect a glaring lack of military tactics. They didnt apply the fundamentals of land warfare in these videos, and they are just sending the troops from a narrow line to their death. There is only one line, so the Ukrainian Gunnery knows where to shoot. They are easy targets. Other parts of the land probably was mined by the ukrainian forces. So after Clearing Mines you replan your course of action, but this time from multiple lines. Multiple lines of attack allow units in the field to take out the enemys defences. Without a mine clearance operation, without a reconnaissance operation, without enough intelligence supported with thermal and other Electro Optical imaging, such kinds of Breaching Operations are suicide. Tayfun� s analysis tells us that the 155 soldiers were not capable of proper reconnaissance. Our investigation found one of the reasons why this may have happened. They were missing critical equipment. On 11 october, weeks before the assault on vuhledar, governor kozhemyako said he would deliver reconnaissance devices to the 155. But on the ground the soldiers said they lacked equipment. Weve talked to a russian source with friends in the 155. The black berets turned to their families for help. On 30 october a group of mothers and wives of primorye soldiers sent a message on Telegram Collecting Money to buy a thermal imager and components. The appeal said the 155th Reconnaissance Team needed it. And the name on the appeal matches a name we found in the leaked list of soldiers. A soldier from the 155th brigade with ten years of experience. 0n kozhemyako� s telegram channel, we found more than ten messages from families complaining about equipment or appealing for it. This is quite unusual. Its not common to see the families of the soldiers appealing some equipment from the company. This is. I dont want to say embarrassing, but it is, for any commander. 0n14 december, five weeks after The Black Berets appealed to their governor, the military prosecutor published the conclusion of their investigation. They found no wrongdoing by the 155th brigade� s commanders. By december, ramaz, the young rapper from yagodnoye, was still missing. His mother, svetlana, shared her despair online, and asked for help to find him. Back in october, governor kozhemyako had promised to support the families. He wrote this on telegram. But families sent messages on his channel saying they could not get responses. And run to the front line is exactly what ramaz� s mother did. Following the footsteps of her son, she said, online, her family travelled nearly 7,000 kilometres to the town of volnovakha, where her son was last seen before the assault on vuhledar in october. There, she finally found her answer. Her son was dead. He had been killed in the battle, a day before his comrades sent their Protest Letter to governor kozhemya ko. Over the next months, ramaz� s mother grieved her son. She also talked to local media. In late january 2023, russia tried to take vuhledar again, launching the largest assault on the town since the beginning of the war. Again, soldiers of the 155th brigade were involved. Again, the men were caught in a deathtrap. Again, they raised the alarm. On 29 january, another letter from The Black Berets appeared on governor kozhemyako� s telegram group. The soldiers said they lost almost the entire personnel of the battalion. They warned of a repetition of pavlivkas battle and that theyre now threatened with criminal prosecution in cases of disobedience. In the days after the letter, more videos surfaced showing the same tactical mistakes as the footage from october and november. Lone russian units attacking in a single line and getting hit repeatedly. 13 days after the 155s second letter, a journalist asked President Putin about the fate of the russian marines in ukraine. This is his response. And governor kozhemya ko . He never replied to the second letter. We contacted governor kozhemyako for a comment on ourfindings. He did not respond. President putin and governor Kozhemyako Have justified the war as a liberation of the russian speaking people in eastern ukraine. Marina, the resident from vuhledar, sees it differently. Marina left her home in vuhledar at the start of the war. She watched the battle unfold on social media. 0n telegram, she saw this video of 155 soldiers fighting in her house. One year later, marinas home in vuhledar or whats left of it is still a contested battlefield. Having to rely on public online evidence means we may never know the full extent of 155 deaths in vuhledar. But our investigation shows that tactical mistakes and a lack of proper Equipment Led to one of the highest known concentration of losses in the war for a single unit. One year later, russia is still sending men to try and take the town. Young men like ramaz gorgadze. But this battle is just one story. Bakhmut. Kupiansk. Avdiivka. More and more young men are being thrown into russias meat grinder. Hello there. A few wintry scenes captured by our weather watchers on friday across parts of scotland, such as here in perth and kinross. But the severe frost will become a lot more widespread as we go into the start of next week, with the potential for some disruptive snow, too. Where is that colder air . Well, its behind this series of weather fronts. Across Northern Scotland on sunday, that Chilly Airjust Spilling down from the arctic as we head through the start of next week across the whole of the uk, with brisk and cold northerly winds blowing. So, lots of added wind chill to factor into the temperatures. But this is how we start off the day on saturday, with temperatures hovering just above freezing, a few pockets of air frost where we see the clear spells, a week weather front sinking southwards, bringing outbreaks of patchy rain into Northern Areas of Northern Ireland, North West England and north wales. To the north of the front across scotland, some Winter Sunshine, showers by the end of the day in the north ahead of the front across england and wales, variable amounts of cloud, but also some brighter spells, temperatures ranging between 5 8 degrees celsius. And its more of the same, too, on Saturday Night into sunday morning. There will be some clear skies around at times. Well start to see the northerly wind pick up, brisk across the Northern Isles with some snow showers for the north of scotland. But again, to start the day on sunday, most of our temperatures will be slightly above freezing. But then that colder air really starts to show its hand with some snow showers even to low levels across Northern Scotland, with this feature just running down towards the north, further south as we head throughout the day. But weve still got the milder air with some Winter Sunshine across england and wales, 7 8 degrees celsius here. But on sunday night into monday, there is the risk of some snow and ice, with Weather Warnings in place across Northern Ireland and the north of scotland. That wind starts to really pick up look at the squeeze on the isobars on monday into tuesday so wintry showers towards north sea facing coasts with this Feature Running across Northern Ireland into Southern Scotland and perhaps northern england. So, here, the snow risk will extend further southwards through the day on tuesday. And then we look to the south west to see this weather frontjust moving its way further northwards. There is the possibility that as it bumps into the colder air, we could possibly see some snow across the South Of England on wednesday, but its still very uncertain, so my advice would be to keep an eye on the forecast. It will certainly be cold. There is the greater risk of some snow with some severe frosts by night. Live from washington, this is bbc news. Us President Biden calls Yemens Houthi forces a terrorist Group Following american and british air strikes targeting the iran backed fighters after months of attacks on ships in the red sea. And voting has just begun in key elections in taiwan. It comes as china calls it a choice between War And Peace for the island. Plus, iowa braces for dangerous blizzard conditions with heavy wind and snow moving across the us state just days before voters take part in republican president ial caucuses. Hello, im sumi somaskanda. Thank you forjoining us. We start with new us Military Action on the houthi movement. The pentagon says American Forces struck a houthi radar site in yemen. It comes a day after the us and uk Led Coalition attacks on locations across yemen. Us Officials Say its part of an effort to degrade the houthis� ability to strike red sea shipping. President biden responded to reporters at a coffee shop in pennsylvania where he gave his first on camera statement about the strikes, calling the houthis terrorists and warning against more aggression in the red sea. Inaudible question. No, iran does not want a war with us. Inaudible question. I think they are. Were the strikes successful last night, sir . Yes. Very i dont think theres any civilian casualties thats another reason why its a success. Us Officials Sayjust under 30 sites were targeted
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