Russian military leadership were forced to deploy a rapid response unit to put down a riot among their troops in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military spokesman told Ukrayinska Pravda in a not very clearly translated article carried by Yahoo News.
“It became known yesterday that the SOBR unit (The Special Rapid Response Unit – ed.) has approached Donetsk Oblast from the Russian side. This is not related to assault actions, but to the morale and psychological state of the troops. This unit came to quell riots,” Colonel Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi said, adding “Russian marines are also at work. The day before yesterday, in the Vuhledar area, marines tried to assault Ukrainian positions, and got, as they say, their ‘just deserts’. Thereafter, 10 people from this unit surrendered. A considerable amount of Russians died.”
Separately the Wall Street Journal reports Ukrainian forces are bracing for a large Russian offensive in the next few weeks as the first anniversary of the invasion approaches.