Russia's elite paratroopers and marines are refusing orders to launch 'human wave attacks,' Ukraine official says

• Elite Russian troops are refusing to launch "human wave attacks," a Ukrainian official said.
• Nataliya Humenyuk said the marines and paratroopers were concerned over huge losses in the assaults.
• Former prisoners and poorly-trained reservists typically carry out costly frontal assaults, she said.

Russian marines and paratroopers are refusing to launch certain types of assaults due to concerns over the huge losses other troops are suffering, a Ukrainian official said, per the Kyiv Post.

Nataliya Humenyuk, press secretary for the AFU's Joint Command South, said that the soldiers considered "themselves 'elite troops'" and did not "want to go into frontal assaults" typically carried out by former felons and reservists, the outlet reported.

Over the course of the Russian invasion, it has become increasingly reliant on high-risk frontal assaults. It involves waves of attacks that probe Ukrainian positions and seize small portions of territory but cost a huge loss of life.

The Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a mysterious plane explosion after leading a failed mutiny in June, described the tactic as a "meat grinder."

Humenyuk cited Russian attacks on Krynky in Kherson Oblast, southern Ukraine, as an example, saying that Russian troops assaulting Ukrainian marine positions there were being hit with more than 50% losses.

The number of 'Storm-Z' units (low-grade Russian formations made up older reservists and former convicts) committed to carry out human wave attacks against the Ukraine bridgehead on the eastern side of the Dnipro were now falling, and more naval infantry and paratroopers were being deployed, said Humenyuk

"But they consider themselves 'elite troops,' and they don't want to go into frontal assaults like that," Humenyuk said.

One of Russia's newly formed Russian paratrooper units, the 104th Guards Airborne Division, appeared to be hit particularly hard in its combat debut in the Kherson region late last year, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an update on the conflict in December.

It said the unit "highly likely suffered exceptionally heavy losses and failed to achieve its objectives" during its operations in the area, aimed at dislodging Ukrainian positions near Krynky.

Krynky has been the scene of heavy fighting over the past few months as Ukrainian forces have been attempting to recapture ground from Russia across the Dnipro River.

Conditions in the region have made the conflict difficult for both sides, with marshes, water-filled bomb craters, and mud making it almost impossible for troops to dig in, The New York Times reported.

Despite Ukrainian officials' claims that the country's marines had gained ground on the eastern side of the river, soldiers and marines told The Times that this was an exaggeration.

"There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position," Oleksiy, a soldier who fought in Krynky and who only gave his first name, said. "It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It's impossible to move equipment there."

"It's not even a fight for survival," he added. "It's a suicide mission."

However, its success in the skies above the Dnipro bolstered Ukraine's difficult position on the ground.

Russia appears to be unable to counter Ukraine's drone attacks because of a shortage of electronic warfare capability in the area, the UK's Ministry of Defence said.

Ukraine's forces have been using first-person view drones to strike Russian armor and artillery, the UK department said in an intelligence update on Sunday.

A Russian military blogger estimated that 90% of Russian military equipment in the Krynky sector, a village on the east bank of the river, has been destroyed, the department said.