Hundreds of starving and marooned Russian troops are being killed by Ukrainian drones in the “death zone” of the Dnipro delta, according to a report.
The river, surrounded by low-lying marshy islands, is split between Russian control on the left bank and Ukrainian control on the right.
At least 5,100 Russians have died in the area since January this year, some from starvation, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Footage shared by the 40th Coastal Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Marine Corps shows several makeshift Russian boats approaching the coastal swamp, only to be blown apart by Ukrainian suicide drones.
“The area is a death zone for Russia,” Colonel Oleksandr Zavtonov of Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps told The Telegraph. “There is nowhere to hide.”
He added: “The prisoners that our fighters recently took on the islands talked about the inability to deliver food and drinking water to them, and they have to drink water from the river.”
One of the deadliest and most perilous fronts, the area can be valuable for observation and the establishment of radio networks for unmanned aerial operations. Controlling the area can enable soldiers to affect resupply and the movements of small boats.
However, it leaves soldiers completely exposed.
“It is a large water area; there is nowhere to hide on the islands themselves, and the terrain is mostly swampy, and units passing through them will be too vulnerable,” he explained.
Desperate troops appear to be attempting to camouflage themselves using reeds and mud as they attempt to make their way back to areas of Russian control across the water.
“Enemy advances are carried out by small groups that try to camouflage themselves – a tactic not seen at the beginning of the war,” Oksana Kuzan, head of the analytical department at the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, told the publication.
“Russian military units remaining on the islands in the Dnipro delta are facing serious problems with food, ammunition, and rotations.”
Last month, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his highest conscription of troops in nine years, mandating 135,000 people to be recruited into the military by 31 December 2025.
Ukrainian intelligence estimated that 180,000 of Russia’s military personnel could consist of former prisoners, who were made eligible for conscription by Putin in 2022.
The Economist’s meta-estimate of Russian casualties since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 until January 2025 was between 137,000 to 228,000 soldiers dead. By 13 October this year, it estimates this number has risen by 60 per cent to 190,000 to 480,000 dead, with between 984,000 and 1,438,000 casualties recorded.
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