Russian Tanks Aim To Grind Down Ukrainian Troops Around Pokrovsk
Can the Ukrainians destroy Russian armor fast enough to save the city?
After months of infantry-led assaults, Russia launched at least two major armored assaults around the fortress city of Pokrovsk this week—both ending in catastrophic losses for Russian tank columns.
The shift back to mechanized warfare marks a dangerous escalation. After months relying on infantry assaults, Russian forces are now committing precious armor reserves in repeated attempts to widen their salient—even as Ukrainian drones, mines, and artillery destroy tanks faster than Moscow’s factories can replace them.
One urgent objective: widen the base of the 40-square-km salient Russian troops carved into Ukrainian lines northeast of Pokrovsk in August. That breakthrough puts Russian forces within reach of Dobropillia, a village sitting astride a main supply line feeding into Pokrovsk from the north.
Capture Dobropillia, and Russia could starve Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk, forcing a retreat. Capture Pokrovsk itself, and Russian forces would have a clear shot at the twin fortress cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk—potentially unhinging Ukraine’s entire fortress line in Donetsk Oblast.
The fighting in the Dobropillia pocket is growing more chaotic as more Russian armor presses from multiple directions.
The two biggest mechanized assaults near Pokrovsk in recent days both ended in disaster for Russia.
On Monday, the Russian 5th Motor Rifle Brigade rolled 18 armored vehicles—a porcupine tank and 17 infantry fighting vehicles—toward Myrnohrad, just east of Pokrovsk.
Drones and artillery from the Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade destroyed the tank and 12 IFVs just east of Myrnohrad, killing around 100 Russian soldiers. “The remnants of the enemy units retreated, suffering significant losses.”
Four days earlier, a Thursday afternoon assault on the village of Shakhove—buttressing Ukrainian defenses along the eastern corner of the chaotic salient just north of Pokrovsk—ended in similar bloody fashion.
Scores of motorcycle troops sped along Kuibyshevo Road threading from contested Volodymyrivka toward adjacent Shakhove, defended by Ukraine’s 225th Assault Regiment. 35 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers followed right behind.
Some Russian vehicles struck mines. Drones and artillery targeted the survivors. “Thanks to well-planned engineering measures for mine-laying and coordinated actions of the defense forces—primarily artillery crews and unmanned systems—the enemy’s plans were thwarted,” the 1st Azov Corps reported.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
Its a shame that the excess A10/warthogs throughout NATO are not being used at this stage. They are explicitly designed for anti tank warfare. But I read they are so old that they cannot sustain against current radars and anti aircraft technology....