Instead of deploying large formations of vehicles in direct assaults, the Ukrainians slowed down, dismounted and pressed their attacks only where they could flank.
For many observers, Ukraine’s long-anticipated southern counteroffensive began with cataclysm on June 8, when a battlegroup from the Ukrainian army’s 33rd and 47th Mechanized Brigades assaulted Russian positions south of Mala Tokmachka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast—The Ukrainians ultimately retreated from the minefield, leaving behind more than two dozen of their best vehicles, including German-made Leopard 2A6 tanks and ex-American M-2 fighting vehicles.
All across the front in the first week of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainians learned the same thing: direct assaults on Russian defenses were too costly. If the counteroffensive were going to succeed, it would succeed slowly—and on foot.from analysts Jack Watling and Nick Reynolds from the Royal United Services Institute in London.
Early on June 4, Ukrainian engineers fired a pair of UR-77 explosive line-charges, blasting a 100-yard lane through the minefield north of Novodarivka. The mech brigades’ T-64BV tanks led columns of MaxxPro mine-resistant ambush-protected armored trucks down the lane toward the settlement. By now it was clear to the Ukrainians that a frontal assault was suicide. But with a platoon-size force—several dozen soldiers, all survivors of the initial two breaches—isolated on the northern edge of Novodarivka, commanders were confronted with an impossible choice: abandon the survivors, or risk a third assault.
The brigades’ orders were to continue toward Rivnopil, but their commanders knew they couldn’t afford to expend another two dozen vehicles. “Such a loss rate was not sustainable,” the RUSI analysts explained. After all, a Ukrainian brigade typically deploys just 120 tanks, fighting vehicles and armored trucks.
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