The Russians claim that since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive on June 4, Kiev has lost around 43,000 troops and 4,900 vehicles. Although the numbers are inflated, there is a harsh truth about the Ukrainian commanders.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s army is dangerously “bleeded” – just like the Russian one. That’s why the Ukrainian commanders decided to throw the most elite units into battle, in order to turn the tables, such as the famous 82nd Airborne Brigade, with 2,000 well its trained soldiers.
It is considered the pride of the Ukrainian Army which has been awarded with 20 M1132 Stryker mine-clearing Engineer team vehicles, 14 British Challenger 2 behemoths, 40 Marders armored personnel carriers and 90 Stryker armored vehicles.
In general, a very important part of the armament that NATO gave to Ukraine was transferred exclusively to this particular Brigade.
Ukrainian commanders kept the 82nd Brigade in the rear as a reserve to be used to rest those bleeding on the front lines. That moment came recently when the impressive vehicles of the 82nd Brigade revved up and started for Robotyne. This is a highly fortified Russian position northeast of Melitopol, the capture of which will bring the Ukrainians closer in their quest to reach Azov.
It seems that indeed, this mighty unit has made progress.
“The Achilles’ heel” of the specific Βrigade
Since perhaps the most important obstacle the Ukrainians are facing so far is the deadly minefields, they saw 10% of the M1132 vehicles that were supposed to “devour” the Russian mines rendered useless in just a few 24 hours. This particular vehicle has rolling devices mounted on the front of its bed that detonate any buried mines before they detonate when the vehicle passes over them. Thus they render minefields useless by loosening the hands of commanders to order the advance of forces.
It is unclear what hit the M1132s and whether the crews survived. It is possible that they fell victim to the same mines that were trying to clear their crews, or even to artillery or drone fire. So the problem is that while most military mine clearance vehicles are built on heavy, thickly armored tank hulls, the M1132 is not!
The American company General Dynamics Land Systems designed the Strkyer to be airliftable. In other words, keep it light. This makes it vulnerable to mine explosions, artillery shrapnel, anti-tank missiles and even heavy machine guns. That same lightness also means that the addition of a two-ton mine-launcher assembly puts considerable strain on an M1132, especially on rough terrain.
The alternative to advancing an army is to “push” the defenders away from its ramparts, trenches, and bunkers far enough for the engineer to do his job. To achieve this the Ukrainians would have to bomb the enemy line from the air just before an attempted breach. But the Ukrainians, with their meager air force, have no such capability.
An accurate and intense artillery barrage can suppress enemy troops long enough for M1132s to clear a minefield. But Ukrainian artillery is busy targeting Russian artillery units.
This means that the 82nd Brigade is probably clearing minefields around Robotyne while under fire.
However, the good news for the Ukrainians is that the US has committed 189 Strykers to the Ukrainian war effort, more than enough to replace losses and equip additional brigades. Even if they run out, the US military has hundreds of them in stock.
