Aerial footage from Ukraine shows the destruction of Russian tanks near Vuhledar
A threeweek battle on a plain near the coalmining town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine has led to what Ukrainian forces say the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a severe setback for the Russians.
According to the Ukrainians, Moscow lost at least 130 tanks and armored vehicles in this battle, according to information from the “New York Times”.
Both sides sent tanks to Vuhledar. “The Russians advanced in columns and the Ukrainians maneuvered defensively, firing from afar or from cover when Russian columns appeared,” writes the American newspaper.
When the confrontation ended, Russia not only failed in its attempt to capture Vuhledar, but also made the same mistake that had cost Moscow hundreds of tanks earlier in the war: taking columns of armored vehicles straight into Ukrainian ambushes.
Destroyed by mines, hit by artillery or destroyed by antitank missiles, the remaining Russian tanks now lie scattered on plantations in the region, according to drone footage taken by the Ukrainian military (see above).
Russian troops at Vuhledar again suffered from a lack of experienced tank commanders, and many of the fighters were newly recruited soldiers untrained to defend against Ukrainian ambushes, The New York Times reports.
Ambushes have been Ukraine’s signature tactic against Russian armored columns since the war’s early days.
Battle for Bachmut
Nearby, in Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces are trying to hold positions as Moscow said its security forces were fighting Ukrainian saboteurs who had taken hostages in a border operation.
Moscow said a group of armed Ukrainians entered Russia’s Bryansk province, shot at a car, killed a civilian and held hostages at a shop near the border.
An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the reports from Moscow provocative, but also suggested that some sort of attack was actually carried out, blaming Russian guerrillas for it.
Near the front lines west of Bakhmut, in the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar, Portal heard the rumble of artillery fire early Thursday.
1 of 1 tank drives to battle front in Bachmut — Photo: Portal/Lisi Niesner Tank drives to battle front in Bachmut — Photo: Portal/Lisi Niesner
In nearby towns and villages, new trenches were dug along the roadside 2040 meters away, an obvious sign that Ukrainian forces were strengthening their defensive positions west of the town.
Bakhmut itself has become a devastated wasteland, inhabited by a few thousand of the prewar 70,000 civilians while armies fight street after street.
Russian troops, supported by hundreds of thousands of reservists called up last year, are advancing north and south of the city in an attempt to cut off the remaining western entry and exit routes of Ukrainian troops.
The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, released a video showing his men raising a Wagner flag atop a multistory, almost dilapidated building he said was filmed near the center of Bakhmut.
Moscow, which has lost territory by the second half of 2022, says taking Bakhmut would be a step toward conquering the rest of the neighboring Donbass region, a key goal. Kiev says the city has limited strategic value but is determined to hold on to decimate the invading Russian force in the bloodiest battle of the war.
“Sooner or later we will probably have to leave Bakhmut. There’s no point in sticking with it at all costs,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhiy Rakhmanin said late Wednesday. “But for now, Bakhmut is being defended with multiple objectives first, to inflict as many Russian casualties as possible.”
Russia said an armed group of Ukrainians crossed the border into the Bryansk region to carry out what the Kremlin described as a terrorist attack.
“Today a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group broke into the Klimovsky district in the village of Lubechanye,” Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on his Telegram channel. “Saboteurs shot at a moving car. One resident was killed and a 10yearold child injured in the attack.”
Russia’s state news agency RIA said several people were taken hostage at a shop in Lubechanye, less than a kilometer from the RussiaUkraine border.
Zelenskyi’s aide Mykhailo Podolyak called the Russian reports “a classic deliberate provocation”.
Moscow “wants to scare its people to justify attacking another country and increasing poverty after a year of war,” it tweeted. But he also hinted that a partisan attack was indeed underway in Russia: “Fear your partisans,” he wrote.