(Dan Tri) – Forbes reported that the Russian army lost up to 35 armored vehicles, including more than 20 tanks, after organizing a hasty counterattack to capture Stepove, a village near the `pan of fire` Avdiivka.
A Russian armored vehicle was destroyed in the village of Novodarivka in Ukraine in July (Illustration: Future Publishing).
Since October 10, Russia has sent a force of about 40,000 people to attack Avdiivka, an important Ukrainian stronghold just northwest of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s defense force – led by the 110th Brigade and later reinforced by the 47th and 57th Brigades – responded.
But this week, the Ukrainian side attacked and may have reclaimed the village of Stepove, or at least turned it into a `no man’s land,` according to Forbes.
In just about a day, the Ukrainian 47th Brigade neutralized the leading Russian formation, which is believed to have been a battalion of more than 500 people with dozens of tanks and combat vehicles.
`Preliminary information shows that more than half of Russian forces were unable to return to their starting positions,` analyst Donald Hill wrote in an update on December 28.
The Russian loss appeared to be confirmed by open source intelligence analyst Andrew Perpetua.
According to Forbes, at the current production rate, Moscow’s entire force in Ukraine can only lose 50 tanks per month so as not to deplete the Russian army’s inventory of about 3,000 tanks.
Forbes writer David Ax said that to repel the Russian counterattack in Stepove, Ukrainian reconnaissance moved silently at night to lay mines along routes that Russia could use.
At the same time, Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also attacked the Russian side, even hitting a BTR combat vehicle filled with ammunition, causing a large explosion.
UAVs of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade attacked the Russian BTR-82 armored personnel carrier, next to a damaged T-80BVM tank (Video: X/@RALee85).
For Russian combat vehicles that can overcome minefields and UAVs, they will face the US-made M-2 Bradley combat vehicles of Brigade 47.
`Lu 47’s Bradleys took down the Russian side like there was no tomorrow,` analyst Hill wrote, saying that Russian combat vehicles `didn’t have much of a chance` against the M-2’s 25mm automatic cannons.
However, the battle also caused losses to the Ukrainian side.
Previously, Brigade 47 probably only had about a dozen German-made Leopard 2A6 tanks out of the 18 they received earlier this year.
The only consolation, according to Mr. Ax of Forbes, is that the Leopard 2 tanks can be recalled and repaired.
The counterattack in Stepove village is just a small bright spot for the Ukrainian army on the battlefield at this time.
Nick John