The aftermath of the failed Ukrainian assault on Malaya Tokmachka.
The Ukrainian army’s 33rd Mechanized Brigade and 47th Assault Brigade massed their Leopard tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles for a powerful assault on Russian positions two miles south of Mala Tokmachka in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast on or before Thursday morning.
A dense minefield lay between the Ukrainians and their objective. And the Ukrainians knew it. They deployed at least one IMR-2 engineering vehicle and a Leopard 2R breaching vehicle in the hope of plowing away the mines and clearing a path for at least a company of 47th Brigade M-2A2 Bradleys and some attached Leopard 2A6s from the 33rd Brigade.
The engineers failed—either because the minefield was too dense or Russian helicopters or artillery interrupted their efforts to clear the mines. In short order, the IMR-2, a rare Leopard 2A6 and as many as nine Bradleys piled up, out in the open. Exposed, under fire and taking damage, the surviving crews and passengers bailed out—and took their dead and wounded with them.
The assault—a so-called “breach” targeting prepared enemy fortifications—failed. That doesn’t mean the Ukrainians have failed in their wider attempt to advance south into Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, a prerequisite to an armored breakthrough that itself is a prerequisite to a large-scale liberation of occupied southern Ukraine.
But it’s a setback. And a potentially serious one if the Ukrainians can’t recover and repair some of the damaged vehicles. Ukraine’s allies so far have pledged to the war effort just 21 long-gun Leopard 2A6s and 109 missile-armed M-2s. The 33rd Brigade-47th Brigade battlegroup lost much as five percent of each vehicle consignment in a single morning.
Context is important. Breaches are the most difficult and usually costliest phase of any armored offensive. What we’re observing near Mala Tokmachka could be one of the most painful battles of this phase of Russia’s 15-month wider war on Russia—for both sides. But especially for the attacking Ukrainians.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davida...-breach-russian-defenses-in-southern-ukraine/
