When the column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles attacked, they fell into a Ukrainian ambush and were locked at both ends, falling into a situation with no way out.
The 2nd Battalion of Ukraine's 30th Mechanized Brigade earlier this month posted a video of this force ambushing a convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles near the village of Sinkovka, about 6 km northeast of Kupyansk city. This is one of the hot spots of the Ukrainian battlefield, where Russia is concentrating its forces to attack.
Video recorded by a reconnaissance drone (UAV) shows a convoy of Russian armored vehicles moving one after another through a minefield, surrounded by the corpses of a number of previously destroyed combat vehicles.
Leading the Russian assault is a tank with a mine plow set in front, to create a safe opening for the formation behind. Other tanks and armored vehicles maintained a safe distance and followed the crawler tracks of the mine plow ahead.
But when the entire convoy entered the ambush, the leading vehicle was suddenly attacked by Ukraine with anti-tank missiles and exploded violently. A crew member was able to escape, crawling on the ground to find a place to hide, but was then hit and lay motionless.
Being blocked, three vehicles in the convoy tried to retreat the same way, but the Ukrainian UAV dropped explosives on the armored vehicle at the end of the convoy, disabling it. This "tail lock" tactic left the entire convoy with no way to retreat. Some Russian infantrymen jumped out of their armored vehicles and ran to the nearby trees to hide.
To escape the stuck situation, the remaining two vehicles had to risk moving to the sides, but they each ran over mines and exploded. Ukrainian forces then shelled Russian soldiers in the trees with cluster munitions. Russian force casualties following the ambush are unknown.
Ukraine attacked Russian forces near the village of Sinkovka in a video posted on January 4, Video: 2nd Battalion, 30th Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine
This is considered an ambush that clearly demonstrates the "block the head, block the tail" strategy that Ukraine is applying to block Russia's advance. According to the commander of the 2nd Battalion of Ukraine, Russian tank and armored convoys often suffered such damage due to encountering their multi-layered defense lines.
"We were carefully prepared to deal with the enemy," the battalion commander said, adding that he supervised the ambush from a nearby bunker.
The Russian army recently mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers to capture Kupyansk, a strategic transportation city connecting the railway and road networks in Kharkov province. However, Russian forces have so far made little progress in their efforts to attack the village of Sinkovka on the outskirts of the city.
Russia's difficulties on this front clearly demonstrate the "frozen" state on the current Ukrainian battlefield, when both sides face the situation of "easy to defend, difficult to attack". After failing in a large-scale counter-offensive campaign last June, Ukrainian forces switched to an "active defense" strategy to protect the territories that the country regained control of during the campaign. .
After many months of consolidating the defense line and accumulating forces, the Russian army switched from a defensive position to an offensive one, with the expectation of being able to easily break through the enemy's defense line thanks to its superior advantage in weapons, especially artillery shells. , in the context that Ukraine is seriously lacking this type of ammunition due to a decrease in aid from the West.
However, the Russian army seems to be encountering the same difficulties that held back Ukrainian forces in the counteroffensive campaign.
One of them is densely planted minefields, capable of neutralizing the shock role of tanks and armored vehicles and slowing down the advance of the attacking force. The popularity of reconnaissance UAVs on the front lines makes it easy for both sides to observe the enemy's "every move, every move", but the defending force has the advantage, because the attacking side no longer has can launch surprise raids.
Ukrainian T-72 tanks near the village of Rabotino in Zaporizhzhia province on January 27. Image: AFP
Heavy combat vehicles can also easily become "easy prey" for suicide UAVs, low-cost weapons capable of destroying tanks and armored vehicles after just one strike at a critical position. A Ukrainian commander at the Kupyansk front said it would be difficult for Russia to make progress until it found a solution to deal with suicide UAVs.
Another difficulty that Russian forces are facing is the level of eliteness of the soldiers participating in the attacks. According to observers, Moscow had to send a large number of poorly trained and inexperienced soldiers to Ukraine to compensate for losses in force, affecting combat effectiveness on the front line.
This was clearly reflected in the ambush of the 2nd Battalion near the village of Sinkovka. According to open source intelligence analyst Emil Kastehelmi, before sending tanks forward, Russia should have pre-emptively shelled that area to break the enemy's defenses, but they did not do so. .
“This is almost a complete tactical failure,” Kastehelmi commented, adding that the Ukrainian army had made similar mistakes many times when conducting counter-offensive campaigns.
Despite overwhelming the enemy in terms of weaponry, Russian forces are also lacking certain types of military equipment, including artillery barrels. David Ax's military expert Forbes said that Moscow recently had to remove the barrels of some old guns to have temporary replacement parts for newer models, in the context that many of their guns had damaged barrels due to too much firing.
Due to difficulties in trying to penetrate the Ukrainian defense line, the Russian army is said to be applying a "war of attrition" strategy, launching many small-scale attacks to gradually wear down enemy forces until they are defeated. the defense line collapsed, instead of launching large campaigns with many risks.
Moscow will be the dominant side in this war thanks to the outstanding production capacity of its domestic defense industry, which is now "in gear" after nearly two years of conflict.
Meanwhile, military aid from the West to Ukraine has recently decreased sharply, and the country's arms industry is currently not capable of meeting wartime needs. Ukraine is also having difficulty compensating for the loss of manpower on the battlefield, when many people in this country are feeling depressed and tired due to the prolonged conflict and no longer want to join the army.
Russia has a larger population than Ukraine, so it will be easier to recruit troops. Vadym Skibitskyi, an official at the General Directorate of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR), said on January 15 that Moscow is currently recruiting about 1 additional soldiers a month, enough to compensate for the loss of manpower on the battlefield.
Observers say that after initial difficulties due to Ukraine's "block head and tail" ambushes, Russian forces will likely find a way to overcome enemy lines, at least for a while. in the Donbass region, if the West does not provide more military aid to Kiev.
“If Russia maintains its artillery superiority from now until the end of the year, Russia will be able to capture the rest of Donbass,” Michael Clarke, former director of the British Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI), said. identify.
Location Kupyansk and surrounding areas. Graphics: RYV
Pham Giang (Follow WSJ, Guardian, Forbes)
