'The best of the best' BBC’s Markurban01 investigates the impact of the Ukraine war on Russia’s elite 331st regiment, revealing the true number of casualties suffered in the conflict so far Newsnight
One of Russia's elite fighting forces, the 331st Guards Parachute regiment, is back in Ukraine after suffering heavy losses at the start of the war. While state media tells a story of the unit's great heroism, back in the regiment's hometown, support for the fighters looks less certain.
Many of the soldiers were listed as "missing" - dying in circumstances, such as in blown up armoured vehicles, where recovery of their bodies was impossible. But memorial walls on Russia's Facebook-like platform V'Kontakte give a good idea of confirmed fatalities, and the anguished public reaction.
Officially sanctioned ceremonies show a street being named after Col Sukharev, a school commemorating Danil Turapov, a paratrooper killed in the same battle, or fundraisers for sending comfort packages to the soldiers. The soldiers' relatives evidently feel a strong common bond, but that's less so among the wider community.
After a period of rest there, the 331st was committed to action once more, during April's fighting near Izyum in eastern Ukraine. After weeks without fresh fatalities we started to see new entries on the social media memorial walls. The airborne combat vehicle, or to use the Russian initials, BMD, that pulls up in that footage has been daubed with so many symbols and letters that it has become a kind of tableau of the 331st and its grim collective experience.
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