That’s where the original Russian invasion rolled into Ukraine and threatened Kiev.
But they picked a good time to use the roads.
The Abrams high fuel use limits their mobility. They need to assigned somewhere important and stay put. Maybe the government in Kiev?
They aren’t fast response units on Ukraine’s muddy roads. They can’t go charging off to battle in Kherson and then Donetsk a few weeks later. I get the impression the Leopard 2 are better at moving quickly.
And it went very badly, because they were confined to the roads, leading to huge stalled columns of Russian vehicles that were picked off by Ukrainian infantry in the woods with anti-tank weapons.
Not so much if they are MANPATS equipped…
Seems like every war has its traitors and spies. They can cost a lot of lives with intel.
The US Army standard infantry company has two anti-armor teams totalling 4 solders, so the majority of the company would be forced to hunker down or withdraw, hopefully calling in the necessary antitank support while they’re still in contact.
I don’t know what distribution of infantry anti-tank weapons in the Ukrainian fielded forces, but I doubt it’s one Javelin per soldier.
It doesn’t have to be one javelin per soldier. A combined arms approach using light vehicles that doesn’t rely on tanks is still cheaper, more easily fielded, and can be very effective against armor. IIRC the USMC is moving away from tanks:
Every rifle squad also has someone with an AT4, so they aren’t entirely dependent on the anti-armor squads.
It’s my understanding that Ukranian infantry has the highest density of anti tank weapons in the world. Like multiples for every Russian armored vehicle in country.
Ukraine is suggesting that it will be done by Russians upset with Putin. Not by Ukrainian actions.
This has been Putin’s biggest fail with this war. Supposedly he did not want a Ukraine allied with NATO. He did not want NATO on his border.
Now he’s going to end up with a very well armed and prepared NATO on his border, as well as Sweden and Finland joining NATO as a direct response to Russian aggression.
As an added bonus, he also now has a military that has been exposed as poorly equipped, poorly led and now much reduced.
5 posts were merged into an existing topic: Finland and Sweden appear poised for entry to NATO {2022-05-12}
Which would not prevent state-run media from reporting that the attacks came from Ukraine, especially after Ukraine made such a statement. They might as well just do it themselves – the net result would be the same.
Putin’s entire reason for starting the war was because of evil flying monkeys or some such rot. He doesn’t need an excuse to do what he does. What Russia needs is a million citizens writing “Death to Putin” on every square inch of public space.
The frustrating thing is that it was abundantly clear as early as April 2022 that Ukraine wasn’t going to lose. All this talk about F-16s, Abrams, Leopards, etc. should have been in the get-the-ball-rolling stage from that point on, that early. It shouldn’t have been something started only now.
If or when Western-made tanks meet Russian tanks on the battlefield, it could be a case of irresistible force vs irreversible object.
The Leopard 2’s stabilized barrel allows it to fire on the move, even over rough ground:
Meanwhile, Russian tanks are slow at reversing and, since a tank’s frontal armor is much thicker than the other sides, a tank should never turn around and expose its sides or rear to the enemy on a battlefield.
This is the closest thing to Cold-War-gone-hot thing we’ll see in our lifetimes, glad to witness it, too bad the teaspoon-sized amounts of aid being given to Ukraine aren’t enough to decisively turn the tide. Need more.
I think the Challenger 2 with freshly trained crews may see the first battle action. The battles will be intense by the end of March. The 14 Challenger 2 tanks may have to hold the battle lines until the Leopard 2 tanks are serviced and crews ready.
The Bradleys with trained crews could arrive at about the same time. I’ve seen reports Ukrainians are already training in the US.
Link Britain wants Challenger tanks in Ukraine by end of March - minister | Reuters
Article in the Atlantic about how the smaller countries in NATO banded together and forced the USA and Germany to stop withholding tanks from Ukraine.
Don’t know if it’s behind a paywall.
I’d like to see a counter offensive planned after the arrival of the Challenger 2 and Bradley vehicles.
Their arrival should be a PR blow to Russia. Grab territory that was previously unobtainable. Use the intimidation of the tanks to shove Russian forces back
500 troops ready by end of March.