The term “gutted” is opinionated and biased, this is not a word that was in the leaked documents, but a word used by the Washington Post to describe their translation of the files. The Oxford Dictionary definition of gutted is “extremely sad or disappointed.” A Google search of the world will also bring up, “take out the intestines and other internal organs of an animal before cooking it.”
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/gutted#:~:text=%E2%80%8Bextremely%20sad%20or%20disappointed
In the answers you have so far received as this being true, both refer to The Washington Post saying the word “gutted”, but it is not a direct quote from the documents themselves. The telegraph article someone used to confirm, directly states, “The findings, reported on Friday by the Washington Post, confirm anecdotal evidence from Russia last year that several Special Forces units were almost wiped out in the first weeks after the invasion.” Then the telegraph goes on to use the word again, but says it was only “suggested” by writing, “The presentation suggested the 22nd and two other special forces brigades were gutted by 90 to 95 per cent.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/14/russia-ukraine-war-latest-news-putin-leaked-documents/
The Egypt Independent was also cited to make this claim true, but they were also just mirroring the descriptive word used in the original article by the Washington Post. The article in the Egypt Independent says, “Russia’s Spetsnaz special forces have been gutted by President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, the The Washington Post reported Friday.” Reusing the same word that is not confirmed and is opinionated does not make something true.
https://www.egyptindependent.com/washington-post-russian-special-forces-gutted-by-war-in-ukraine-according-to-leaked-classified-documents/
The Hill article for the original question can be a little misleading as it focuses heavily on the Russian losses revealed in the documents, but doesn’t do the same equally with the Ukrainian losses revealed. The Hill article says, “U.S. documents included in a leak of sensitive material online show that the war in Ukraine has decimated Russia’s elite special forces, according to a new report.” It only later says the leak was, “revealing information about Ukraine’s battalion sizes, advanced weaponry and other military capabilities — dealing a blow to the Ukraine war effort.” If you follow that hyper link in the quote from the article it does however take you to another article by The Hill that talks a little more about Ukraine’s short comings. It says, “They also give a view into Kyiv’s shortcomings, with at least one document describing how the country could soon run out of munitions for Soviet-era anti-air missile systems, exposing a potential vulnerability in Ukraine’s air defense systems.”
https://thehill.com/policy/3950441-leaked-documents-show-russian-special-forces-have-been-gutted-in-ukraine-war-report/
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3943086-us-intelligence-leak-deals-severe-blow-to-ukraine-war-effort/
While the Washington Post does state, “The war in Ukraine has gutted Russia’s clandestine spetsnaz forces, and it will take Moscow years to rebuild them, according to classified U.S. assessments obtained by The Washington Post.” It is not a direct quote, so we have to assume the word “gutted” is opinionated and since these are leaked documents, they are actively not being shared, meaning we can’t see if the word is actually used in official documents. Also in the Washington Post article they claim it shows forces were “gutted” through graphs and charts. This means they are most likely using descriptive language to translate data from the documents to make for a catchy news lead and enticing article for readers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/14/leaked-documents-russian-spetsnaz/
The New York Times ran a similar article where they showed the documents containing losses and downfalls for both sides involved in the war, but refer to Russia having struggles, not being gutted. It says, “The leaked material, from late February and early March but found on social media sites in recent days, outlines critical shortages of air defense munitions and discusses the gains being made by Russian troops around the eastern city of Bakhmut.”
It also says this leak could hurt Ukraine and the help that the U.S. has been providing with intelligence operations with Russia. It says, “The leak has the potential to do real damage to Ukraine’s war effort by exposing which Russian agencies the United States knows the most about, giving Moscow a potential opportunity to cut off the sources of information.” According to the article, the leaked documents showed the U.S. was able to find out about upcoming strikes, their intended target and warn Ukrainian forces beforehand. But now Russia may be able to figure out where that leak was coming from and have more of an upper hand on their offense.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/us/politics/leaked-documents-russia-ukraine-war.html
