Russian army's failures near Vuhledar show poor training of mobilized personnel and institutional problems - ISW

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports about this.

The analysts noted that recent footage of a failed Russian assault near Vuhledar, Donetsk Oblast has become the latest point of neuralgia in the Russian information space. 

“Milbloggers latched onto the footage to launch several critiques of Russian military leadership. Russian milbloggers claimed that the same Russian commanders who oversaw highly attritional assaults by the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade on Pavlivka (near Vuhledar) in November 2022 are responsible for the effort to capture Vuhledar, and argued that the video illustrates that these commanders continue to make the same costly mistakes. One Russian milblogger specifically stated that Eastern Grouping of Forces commander Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov is responsible for Russian tactical failures around Vuhledar,” the ISW report says.

However, the ISW experts believe that "Russian troops engaging in highly dysfunctional tactics that are far more indicative of the fact that the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade is likely comprised of poorly trained mobilized personnel than of poor command.”

“Russian milbloggers likely blamed Russian commanders to downplay the fact that the systemic poor training of Russian mobilized personnel will likely continue to result in similar tactical failures throughout Ukraine. Russian milbloggers have routinely accused Russian commanders of being responsible for tactical failures throughout the war, likely to shift the overall Russian military failure in Ukraine from the Russian military as an institution onto individuals,” ISW suggests.

• On February 2, Mariupol mayor's advisor Petro Andriushchenko said that the Russian servicemen were telling villagers near Mariupol that they received orders to take Vuhledar and Zaporizhzhia in February.

• On February 4, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that this week the Russian commanders had thrown all their forces into breaking through the defense and encircling Bakhmut.