In recent days, Ukraine has lost 16 US-supplied armored vehicles, according to an open-source intelligence analysis, as the country’s military announced its forces had recaptured three villages from Russia in an offensive in the eastern Donetsk region.
The 16 American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles destroyed or damaged and abandoned represent nearly 15% of the 109 vehicles Washington sent to Kiev, according to Jakub Janovsky of the Dutch open-source intelligence website Oryx, which has been collecting visual evidence of losses. of military equipment in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia began on February 24, 2022.
The Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which moves on rails instead of wheels, can seat about 10 soldiers and is used to transport personnel into battle while providing fire support.
When the first batch of more than 60 Bradleys was shipped to Ukraine in late January, Lieutenant Colonel Rebecca D’Angelo, commander of the US Army’s 841st Transport Battalion, said the armored vehicles would be important for offensive operations in Ukraine. Kiev.
“I hope this improves their capabilities to provide battlefield breakthrough and regain lost ground, with equipment that matches or exceeds what the Russians have,” D’Angelo said in a US Army report.
But when Washington announced in January that it would supply Ukraine with Bradleys, the military analyst at CNN James “Spider” Marks, a retired general, said the Bradleys would need the right mix of other skills, including air support, long-range artillery and incisive intelligence.
“A single outfit like the Bradleys is wonderful, but it needs to be used in conjunction with all the other enablers,” he said at the time.
Air support is an area where Ukraine’s military is lacking, although Kiev’s forces are expected to receive F-16 multi-role fighters from western allies in the future.
Despite the loss of the Bradleys, analysts said that did not necessarily spell trouble for Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russian invaders.
“Given the size of the front and the intensity of the fighting, I would expect such losses,” said Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.
Ukraine “is attacking on four main lines of advance to force Russia to commit its reserves. A necessary but expensive approach,” said Drummond.
But he also echoed Marks’ comments. “I would like to see the use of armor accompanied by more artillery fire and fighter aircraft. You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs,” Drummond said.
Drummond and others also pointed out a positive sign for Ukraine in its losses of Western armored vehicles.
“We are not seeing catastrophic damage. This suggests that the vehicles are doing their job and the teams are getting away,” she said.
And Oryx’s Janovsky said the Bradleys may not be lost forever.
“Most of these vehicles are just damaged and abandoned, so it might be possible to recover and repair them if Ukraine retakes the area,” he said.
The Bradleys are among nearly 3,600 pieces of military equipment Ukraine has lost in the war, according to Oryx. Meanwhile, the site claims to have documented the loss of more than 10,600 Russian military equipment.
In a statement on Monday, Moscow said it had destroyed several Ukrainian armored vehicles in the Zaporizhzhia region.
“Enemy armored forces are launching more and more attacks in the direction [de Zaporizhzhia]. However, Russian anti-tank troops stand in their way, cold-bloodedly turning Western armored vehicles into heaps of scrap metal,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The statement did not say what type of vehicles were destroyed.
retaken villages
Despite the loss of the Bradleys, Ukraine reports that it has recovered at least three areas from Russian forces in fighting over the weekend.
Ukraine’s frontline advance southwards from the town of Velyka Novosilke in the Donetsk region now stretches between 5 and 10 kilometers, according to information released by Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.
Writing on Telegram Sunday night, Maliar said the village of Makrivka had been recaptured from Russian control – the third in a series of settlements along the Mokri Yaly river to be declared liberated by Ukrainian forces later in the day.
Previously, videos surfaced showing soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag from buildings in Neskuchne and Blahodatne.
The military analyst CNN Mark Hertling, said that the situation was positive for Ukraine, both from a moral point of view and from a battlefield point of view.
“It reinforces the fact that they are moving forward,” Hertling told CNN .
In the meantime, “every piece of land that Ukrainian forces can withdraw into their sovereign territory will be part of a march towards operational success,” Hertling said.
Recounting events, Russian military bloggers offered a pessimistic assessment of the situation facing Kremlin forces in the area. The Rybar Telegram channel suggested late on Sunday that Ukraine’s offensive looks set to continue, adding that Russian forces “should expect the pressure to intensify in the near future”.
The battle is taking place near the village of Urozhaine, a little further down the river, Rybar reported. The channel added that heavy clouds and rain were also limiting Russian forces’ ability to use drones to repel the Ukrainian advance.
A Ukrainian army spokesman said Russian forces had blown a dam on the river, adding there had been flooding on both banks but saying it “would not affect our counter-offensive actions”.
On Monday, Ukraine accused Russia of blowing up another small dam along the border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, near the village of Novodarivka.
Floods broke out on both banks of the Mokri Yaly River after the dam of a small reservoir near the village was destroyed, according to the Military Media Center of Ukraine.
Novodarivka is one of several villages in the area that Kiev troops have claimed in recent days.
In its latest survey of the battlefield, Russia’s Ministry of Defense made no mention of retreats, but said its forces “destroyed the concentrations of manpower and equipment” of three Ukrainian brigades operating in the same area.
Further west, in the neighboring region of Zaporizhzhia, Russian air strikes and artillery fire from the Vostok brigade managed to repel three Ukrainian advances south of Orikhiv, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian army spokesman told CNN that Kiev forces have been counter-attacking around the eastern city of Bakhmut for a week, but he downplayed their importance, saying: “this is not a big offensive”.
“These are counterattacks in which we take advantage of the fact that the enemy is turning, that the enemy has not fully recognized, has not fully coordinated his units, has not fully understood. We took advantage of that and counterattacked,” Serhii Cherevatyi told CNN .
He said Russian forces were continuing to bomb Ukrainian positions, but said Ukrainian forces had advanced up to two kilometers in some places.
Cherevatyi said Russia’s presence in Bakhmut was maintained by airborne troops, supported by infantry and mercenary personnel from several smaller private military companies.
While Russian forces remain in the city, Ukrainian forces have concentrated their efforts in areas to the northwest and southwest.
Hertling noted that Ukraine has been using a “deep strike capability” to disrupt Russian supply lines far behind the front lines.
“Ukraine has been very good in terms of attacking deep targets that affect logistical support,” Hertling said.
*With information from CNN’s Uliana Pavlova and Maria Kostenko
Source: CNN Brasil
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