Russian Marines Tried New Tactics. Their Tank Column Got Wrecked, Anyway.

A 22-vehicle assault group near Pokrovsk tried to hide and prevent mining. It didn't work.

After many months of infantry-led assaults, Russian forces recently switched back to tank-led mechanized assaults—especially around the fortress city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

If they can capture Pokrovsk, the Russians would have a clear shot at the twin cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. It’s the Kremlin’s top battlefield priority.

Since last week, there have been no fewer than four major Russian mech assaults. All failed. The fourth, on Thursday, failed hardest as 22 Russian tanks and other armored fighting vehicles from the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade, split into at least two columns, tried to reach Shakhove.

The village anchors Ukrainian defenses on the southeastern corner of a chaotic 25-square-mile salient stretching north toward Dobropillia, which sits astride a main supply line threading south into Pokrovsk.

The Russians never saw Shakhove. Ukrainian drones spotted the armor column just outside the Russian base in Malynivka on Thursday morning. It’s five miles from Malynivka to Shakhove as the crow flies.

“They even didn’t reach the front line,” Ukrainian drone operator Kriegsforscher reported. Mines, drones and artillery hit 14 vehicles, destroying nine of them. (See video above.)