Spooked by Drones, Russian Marines Call Off Their Tank Attack For Now—But Waiting Adds Risk

As the weather cools, trees lose their leaves—and Russian tanks lose concealment

A Russian tank under cover. Via social media

Russia has surged tens of thousands of reinforcements into eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast for a “last, final battle” for Pokrovsk, a fortress city anchoring Ukrainian defenses 30 miles northwest of Donetsk City.

And, for the first time this year, the Russians are deploying with large numbers of tanks and other armored vehicles. Every indication is the final battle for Pokrovsk will be a tank battle—and a marked departure from the infantry-led assaults that have defined Russia’s 2025 offensives, so far.

Tanks can lend an assault firepower and mobility that infantry lack on their own. On the other hand, tanks are big, fat targets for the tiny explosive drones that are everywhere all the time over the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 43-month wider war on Ukraine.

The Russians know they’re about to gamble some of their last major armor reserves. The first few tentative—and small-scale—armored assaults around Pokrovsk since the reinforcements began arriving have not been particularly encouraging for the Russians.

Most of the initial tank attacks have involved just a few vehicles. Too few to muscle through the swarms of drones. “They don’t live long,” Ukrainian drone operator Kriegsforscher wrote about the Russian tanks.

The Russians are spooked—and their fear might be making them stupid. Eavesdropping on Russian communications, Ukrainian forces reportedly overheard staffers from the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade—one of nine marine and airborne regiments and brigades poised to attack Pokrovsk—deciding to hold back their armored vehicles for now.

Why? “Due to the enormous amount of [Ukrainian] UAVs in the air,” Kriegsforscher reported.

But delaying any armored push even for a few weeks means the Russians may attack as the fall season grows cooler—and the leaves drop off the trees.