Considered to have been a ‘major’ escalation in the war, Germany’s illustrious Leopard 2 main battle tanks are exploding left and right on the battlefield, straining Ukraine’s extremely limited stock of Bergepanzer 2 Armored Recovery Vehicles. These vehicles, which do not have a primary combat function, are a part of a small fleet of eight logistics support vehicles. The fleet, known for engineering, enablement or sustainment, has come under attack recently, as Russia has targeted more and more German Leopard 2 tanks.
In an article entitled “Nonlethal Fleet Backstops Kyiv’s Offensive,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that “images released by Russia [show] a damaged Bergepanzer in a minefield alongside abandoned Leopard 2s,” indicating that Ukraine’s armed forces are losing units from their Western supply of armored vehicles at an alarming rate.
In the ticker on Al-Jazeera’s broadcast news channel in Arabic, the headlines read that Russia is reporting Kyiv as having lost more than 160 tanks, a substantial number of which are German Leopard 2 tanks, together with increasingly irreplaceable losses in armored vehicles. Thousands of Ukrainians have already perished.
It is unlikely that the Western supply of weapons, armor, vehicles, or tanks is endless, as many commentators in the West have already imposed upon Kiev the unequivocal requirement that Ukraine make tangible gains on in its offensive as a precondition for continued support.
It comes as a surprise, however, to the West that the vast majority of materiel it has supplied to Ukraine is ineffective. Le Figaro’s French daily, for instance, published an article with a video allegedly released by Russia’s Ministry of Defense, displaying an abandoned German Leopard 2 tank on top of broken tracks with its engine idling. [1]
“«Des chars Leopard et des véhicules de combat d’infanterie Bradley. Maintenant, ce sont nos trophées», a indiqué le ministère russe de la Défense sur Telegram, accompagnant son message d’une vidéo filmée au téléphone montrant plusieurs véhicules militaires endommagés. Selon lui, ces véhicules de fabrication occidentale ont été «capturés au combat» par les soldats russes du groupement «Est».” [ibid]
In many points along the front line, Ukrainian armed forces have fallen back from the first lines of defense. In the few cases where they have been able to make their way through the first lines, they have had to grapple with Russia’s network of defense. As the fighting has been intense, many have abandoned the equipment the West thought would serve as an Achilles’ shield struck from the godly hand Hephaestus before a mighty battle to reclaim Helen of Troy. Unfortunately, the Ukrainians have little, if anything, to show for the epic counteroffensive.
Despite Ukraine’s battlefield losses, the Wall Street Journal have, nonetheless, celebrated the seizure of the inconsequential village of Blahodatne as a ‘victory’ on Wednesday, citing the fact that “three platoons from the 68th Jaeger Brigade took the village from a larger Russian infantry force after a methodological firefight.” Described as “one of a string of local victories in the first days of Ukraine’s big offensive,” the village of Blahodatne’s capture by Ukrainian armed forces, however, changes little for Ukraine or its counteroffensive. It is certainly not the breakthrough its Western supplies of weapons sought to witness in the first few days of the counteroffensive.
The Russian news agency Military Observation, whose summary of the fighting from yesterday indicates that both the 57th Motorized Brigade and the 65th Mechanized Brigade are engaged in the fighting, reports Ukraine’s losses as more than 800 personnel, 20 tanks, four Bradley fighting vehicle, 15 armored vehicles, two M777 howitzers, one 2A65 (i.e., a Soviet towed 152.4 mm howitzer), one D30 (i.e., a Soviet 122-mm howitzer), together with one BM-21 “Grad”. [2]
These are significant losses and some of these losses are from an important battle. In the region of Vremivka / Vremevsky Vystup, Ukrainians lost four of those tanks and seven of those armored vehicles.
The battle in the region of Vremivka / Vremevsky Vystup (i.e. (i.e., Времівка / Времевский выступ ), however, is significant for it is in this area that a Russian general fell. Major General Sergei Goryachev, 52, chief of staff for the 35th Combined Arms Army, was killed “as a result of an enemy missile attack” in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, south of the village of Velikaya Novoselka. This report is per Yuri Kotenok, a Russian war correspondent, milblogger and analyst who runs the Telegram channel Voenkor Kotenok Z.
Goryachev graduated from the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School in 1994 before serving in Transnistria and Tajikistan. After Russian launched its invasion in 2024, Putin appointed Goryachev to be the commander of the 5th separate tank brigade. Before his death, he rose to the rank of deputy commander of the 35th Combined Arms Army where he was appointed Chief of Staff.
Adjacent to the area of Vulhedar, where Russians suffered defeat in an epic tank battle, Vremivka / Vremevsky Vystup has become a point of attack where Ukrainians have sought to make a breakthrough. According to Ukrainian news sources, Ukrainians appear to have broken through a line of defense but haven’t accomplished much else. The Institute for the Study of War, which the author criticized heavily during the battle of Bakhmut, provides truthful information on the battle. [3]
“Girkin claimed that the typical defense of Russian forces is to retreat to rear areas to draw Ukrainian infantry out from Ukrainian air defense and electronic warfare coverage. Girkin claimed that Russian forces then attack the area with tank and air defense support in order to prevent the Ukrainian forces from deploying air defense elements forward to newly gained areas.
The Russian armed forces have continuously exploited the Ukrainian desire for the reclamation of territory to its advantage. Russia’s exploitation of Ukraine’s desire to reclaim its territory is a tactic the Russians have used time and time again, leading often to a high number of losses in materiel and personnel. While the battle for Vremivka / Vremevsky Vystup is yet undecided, there is no expectation that Ukrainian armed forces have developed an effective counter tactic.
[1] – [“Guerre en Ukraine : l’armée russe affirme avoir capturé des chars allemands Leopard et des blindés américains Bradley,” Le Figaro, June 14th, 2023]
[2] – [“Минобороны подтвердило нанесение группового ракетного удара по местам дислокации резервов ВСУ, а также складам с западной помощью,” Военное Обозрение, June 13th, 2023]
[3] – [“Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment,” Institute for the Study of War, June 12, 2023]