During an attempt to cross the Siverskiy Donets river, the russian army lost 485 of the 550 soldiers of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade. Also, during this large-scale attempt at the crossing, which took place on May 11, more than 80 units of russian equipment were damaged.
This was reported by the American Institute for War Studies (ISW).
"russian troops made significant tactical mistakes when they attempted a large-scale crossing of the Siverskiy Donets river from the Kreminna side," US experts said.
It is reported that the russian command sent 550 servicemen of the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 41st General Army to force the Siverskiy Donets river to surround Ukrainian troops near Rubizhne from the northwest. On May 11, Ukrainian artillery destroyed russian pontoon bridges and densely packed russian troops and equipment around them.
"74th Motorized Rifle Brigade previously tried to cross the river (March 8 across the Desna river, the Chernihiv region) without such failures. The command and headquarters of the unit may not have realized the danger posed by improving Ukraine's artillery capabilities in two months or they are just unable or incompetent to control their troops," the ISW said.