Cannon Fodder: What happened to Russia’s elite ‘Black Berets’? - BBC World Service Documentaries

In October 2022, Russia sent men from the elite 155th Marine Brigade—the “Black Berets”— to take the town of Vuhledar in Ukraine. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 Ramaz Gorgadze, a young aspiring TikTok rapper, was among them. Before the assault, he sent a last message to his mother, and then went missing. Days later, a rare protest letter from the Black Berets emerged online. The men claimed that “inept” commanders threw them into an “incomprehensible offensive” and called them “meat”. What happened to Ramaz and his comrades of the 155? Using only publicly available footage and testimonies, BBC Eye shows how glaring tactical mistakes caused one of the highest concentration of losses for a single Russian unit since the beginning of the war. 00:00 Intro: What happened in Vuhledar? 02:37 Meet TikTok rapper Ramaz Gorgadze 03:44 President Putin launches the full-scale invasion of Ukraine 04:24 Ramaz is called up in Russia’s mobilisation and joins the 155th Marine Brigade 05:52 Meet Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of Russia’s Primorye region who champions the 155th 06:19 Ramaz is deployed to Ukraine with the 155th and prepares for an assault on the town of Vuhledar 07:15 Meet Marina, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian who had her home in Vuhledar 08:23 First battles for Pavlivka and Vuhledar, and first Black Berets’ protest letter 11:23 Evidence of 155th brigade’s losses 13:36 Why were the 155th brigade’s losses so high? 20:46 What happened to Ramaz? 23:16 Second battle for Pavlivka and Vuheldar, and second Black Berets’ protest letter 25:05 Marina finds out what happened to her home in Vuhledar To watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC teams check out this documentary playlist, perfect for the biggest screen in your home 👉🏽 ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 Twitter 👉🏽 Facebook 👉🏽 BBC World Service website 👉🏽 Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #WorldService #russia #ukraine