Marines that spread terror in Kherson train new warriors on fields of Pechenga

"The exercise battle rumbles over the training ground of the Northern Fleet marines. Like the surf of the sea, it rolls in waves over the smoke-covered hills." 

A report published by Russian state TV and several of the media channels of the Northern Fleet is written in ludicrous language. It describes instructors with long experience from the war in Ukraine engaging in a comprehensive training program in Sputnik, the Russian base located only few kilometres from the border to Norway and Finland.

The propagandist material maintains that marines from the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade are fighting 'Ukrainian nazis.'

Among the instructors is a lieutenant that under the callsign 'Tiras' for a long time has fought on occupied land. The man was reportedly born in Tiraspol, the separatist city in Moldova, and went to a Russian military school before he ultimately ended up in the Northern Fleet's naval infantry.

Since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, 'Tiras' and many of his colleagues have been fighting in Ukraine. The naval infantry brigade is today heavily involved in fighting in occupied parts of the Kherson region.

"In the course of the special military operation, our unit has fought against Ukrainian soldiers on the riverbanks of the Dnepr," the lieutenant says. "With boats we have been landed on islands, collected intelligence, taken back positions from the enemy," he adds.

He is now sharing his experiences with recruits that soon themselves will be in the war zone. 'Tiras' says he will join them in battle.

Drone flying is a key part of the training, the Northern Fleet explains.

'Tiras' and his brothers in arms fighting in Kherson might be guilty of grave war crimes. According to a new report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russian occupant forces in the south Ukrainian region are spreading terror among the civilian population. 

The report concludes that the Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes by attacking civilians with drones.

The primary purpose of the attacks is to spread terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law, the report reads. About 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured in the attacks.

"Since July 2024, Russian military drone operators based on the opposite side of the river have systematically struck civilian persons, in various circumstances, mainly outdoors, while on foot or using transport. They also targeted ambulances, which have special protection under international humanitarian law, often preventing them from reaching the victims," the authors of the report write. 

The 61st Naval Infantry Brigade is heavily engaged in occupied parts of the Kherson region. 

According to information from the brigade, the 'polar bears' from Sputnik operate in several parts of the Dnipro river delta, including in the Kinburn and Tendra Spits.

"As part of the Dnepr group, the Polar Bears provide security to patrols across the Kinburnsky and Tendrovsky headlands in the Kherson area with the task to counter-act the landing of Ukrainian forces from the sea," an exhibition poster reads.

"Thanks to our artillery batteries, guided anti-tank missiles, air defence weapons we control the Dniepr–Bug estuary, the waters of Yegorlytsky and Tendrovsky bays, as well as the coastal parts of the open sea," the poster explains.

The poster is part of an exhibition that recently was on display in a Russian shopping mall in Murmansk.

Judging from the information, the marines from the Russian north have over the past three years fought across major parts of occupied Ukraine.

"The black berets of the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade have since the start of the SVO been on most parts of the front. From February 24, 2022 until present day, our marines have fought against the Ukrainian Armes Forces in the Kharkov direction, in the «Sherwood forest» of the Slovyansk direction, in battles by Donetsk, in spring 2024 we fought the enemy on the left banks of the Dnepr, in the Kherson direction."

In early 2022, three landing ships left Murmansk with more than 20 tanks, several pieces of heavy machinery, two K-29 helicopters and almost 1,000 troops onboard. The ships proceeded to Tartus, Syria, and then sailed into the Black Sea. 

Judging from the exhibition, the planned landing operation was cancelled because of "preparations by the Ukrainians" and the heavily mined waters of the Black and Azov Seas. Instead, the equipment and troops were deployed in land-based attack units. 

The exhibition says nothing about the number of marines killed in the war, but the casualties are likely to be in the thousands.