by DAVID AXE
Armored combat engineer vehicles (CEVs) clear mines, earthen obstacles and roadblocks, fill in anti-tank trenches and winch and tow immobilized vehicles. They assist with the construction of fortifications.
At least one Ukrainian crew riding in an up-armored CEV fitted with a dozer blade is responsible for clearing wrecked vehicles from the H20 highway: a locus of the heaviest fighting as the Russian Center Group of Forces fights its way north toward the free eastern city of Kramatorsk. Ukrainian reinforcements roll south along the H20 toward the disputed gray zone; fleeing civilians roll north.
CEVs are extremely useful, but they’re also extremely vulnerable as they go about their dangerous work on mined terrain within range of enemy artillery and drones.
The startling rate at which the Ukrainian armed forces have lost CEVs has had a sad consequence. Several CEV types have gone extinct in Ukrainian service.
