2024-04-07 18:58:11
The Russians are still trying to gain territory around Avdijivka, which they captured in February. However, they are repeating the mistakes they made at the beginning of their full-scale aggression against Ukraine. A defending country that does not receive enough ammunition takes advantage of this and does not hesitate to crush similar leadership of Russian attacks.
Ukrainian paratroopers from the 25th brigade repelled a massive Russian attack near the village of Tonenke. They destroyed four Russian tanks and two infantry fighting vehicles. | Video: Aktuálně.cz/X/Defense of Ukraine
The Ukrainian 25th Airborne Brigade stopped a massive Russian attack near the village of Tonenke. As part of the defensive action, it destroyed a convoy of four tanks and two infantry fighting vehicles and published footage from the action.
The US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) described the Russian attack around Tonenka as “the first battalion-sized mechanized attack” since the Kremlin launched its Avdijivka offensive last October. A Russian tank battalion usually numbers up to 30 vehicles.
“What’s surprising is that the convoy at Tonenke mostly used a single route. It doesn’t appear that they took advantage of the open terrain on either side and spread out their forces, although it looks like some vehicles tried to disperse,” Bryden Spurling of the think-tank told Newsweek. the RAND tank. According to him, Russian crews may fear muddy terrain or mines. “Either way, these are significant losses,” Spurling added.
“We saw almost the same mistakes on their part with Tonenka as with Vuhledar the previous year,” Viktor Tregubov, a Ukrainian journalist who now serves in the Ukrainian army, told the server. Vuhledar, a small village in southern Ukraine, was the scene of intense clashes for several weeks in early 2023. Ukrainian officials told The New York Times at the time that it was the largest tank battle of Russian aggression to date.
Analysts have previously described the first mechanized attacks from the beginning of the invasion. According to them, these were accompanied by errors in organization and planning. After high losses, only a few qualified Russian soldiers were left to train a new generation of tank crews.
In February of this year, the British International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that Moscow had lost more than three thousand tanks in two years of aggression, which is more than it had in active service before the aggression. The Ukrainians even claim that there are more than seven thousand tanks. But their claims cannot be independently confirmed.
The Kremlin had to pull the old tanks out of storage. Now the Russians have fully switched to the war industry and are trying to replenish the vehicle fleet. “Tank production has increased fivefold since February 2022,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the beginning of this year.
“They know they have a material advantage and can afford to be reckless,” Tregubov commented on the current state. “They don’t seem to be paying much attention to their losses and are throwing troops against the Ukrainians in an effort to wear down the defenders and find weak points,” thinks Spurling of the RAND think tank.
Military analysts generally agree that Russia has largely rethought some of its earlier tactics. According to Spurling, it launched the invasion underprepared and overconfident. His armored vehicles were walking into Ukrainian ambushes without sufficient infantry support. “Russia now has enough troops and has switched to heavily mechanized infantry tactics. They have adapted and are emphasizing their strengths,” adds Spurling.
“Their losses are in the millions.” The Polish general bluntly said how Ukraine is doing. (Full article with video here)
“Ukrainians are losing this war. They have no resources and no one to fight with,” the Polish general claims in the interview. | Video: Reuters