Short Of Tanks And Troops, One Ukrainian Brigade Takes Whatever It Can Get

The 29th Heavy Mechanized Brigade is tragically typical

29th Heavy Mechanized Brigade photo

by DAVID AXE

The trickle of old and new vehicles slowly filling out the ranks of the Ukrainian army’s newly formed 29th Heavy Mechanized Brigade is a worrying reminder that Ukraine, despite its recent successes on the battlefield, is still struggling to fully equip its ground combat brigades.

The factors are myriad. Foreign donations of surplus equipment have slowed. Ukraine purchases some new equipment on its own but relies on foreign financing for the rest. Sometimes the financing is slow to come together; sometimes the manufacturer is slow to deliver.

Meanwhile, losses on the battlefield—and losses to accidents and wear and tear—relentlessly pile up. In that sense, Ukraine’s equipment losses mirror its human losses. Bleeding people and machines, the Ukrainian armed forces can’t quite keep all their combat formations fully staffed and fully mechanized.

Case in point: the Ukrainian army’s 29th Heavy Mechanized Brigade. Observer Stevius has closely tracked the “poor” brigade as it has inducted whatever vehicles the army can scrounge for the unit’s front-line battalions. The skeletal brigade stood up last year but still isn’t ready for action.

Stevius has noted, in service with the 29th Heavy Mechanized Brigade: BTR-60 and M-113 armored personnel carriers with their roots in the 1960s; T-72B, T-72EA, and T-72AV tanks originally built in the 1970s plus a few somewhat newer T-64BV tanks; and, finally, factory-fresh 2S22 howitzers.

The tanks in particular represent “a fairly heterogeneous mix,” Stevius wrote. The brigade is piecing together a single tank battalion, which should have 31 tanks at full strength, with whatever unassigned tanks are lying around.

Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.