Destroyed tanks blow hole in military myth
The destruction of an elite Russian tank unit is further evidence the Kremlin lacks the military might it was thought to have.
The destruction of an elite Russian tank detachment in Ukraine is further evidence that the Kremlin lacks the military might it was thought to have before the war, defence experts have said.
Ukrainian forces claimed a decisive victory over the 4th Guard tank division in a small town near the Russian border this week.
The armoured unit, famed for fighting in Stalingrad and liberating Poland from the Nazis in the Second World War, was deployed at the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
Its tanks rolled into Trostyanets, in the eastern Sumy oblast, after a week-long battle with resistance fighters and occupied the area for 25 days. But in a significant blow to Russia, Ukrainian soldiers announced on Sunday that they had retaken the territory after obliterating the vehicles.
“Trostyanets is free from Russian occupation,” said Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanised Brigade, nicknamed Kholodhny Yar. Footage of the charred and tangled remains of the division’s T-80 tanks supported that assessment and were widely shared online.
Before the war, Russia pinned its hopes on deploying advanced T-14 tanks, but these became a “dead end” after sanctions crippled access to the high-end systems the vehicle required.
The T-14 “Armata” main battle tank has long been touted as a game-changer for Moscow, but has notably been absent from Ukraine.
The faster, more advanced tank is a technological leap from Soviet-era military hardware, bringing capabilities such as an unmanned turret, which includes a remotely controlled main gun with fully automated loading and the ability to fire laser-guided missiles.
It was designed to keep its three-man crew well protected. The driver, gunner and tank commander are housed in a crew compartment located in an armoured capsule at the front.
But production delays mean Russia does not have enough the tanks to send. Uralvagonzavod, its main manufacturer, first said deployable T-14s would be delivered in 2018 but they seem unlikely to be ready until next year.
The older models being deployed in Ukraine have proved vulnerable to missile launchers donated by Britain and its allies.
The latest update by the armed forces of Ukraine said 600 Russian tanks had been destroyed. About 40 per cent are estimated to have been on the receiving end of NLAW missiles.
So desperate is the situation for Russian tank crews that some have been documented welding cages onto their vehicles to improve protection.
The ease with which tanks are being taken out has led analysts to doubt the effectiveness on a modern battlefield of Russia’s armoured units.
James Rogers, a defence expert and co-founder of the think tank Council on Geostrategy, said Russia’s military strength has been “overappreciated”.
“It is not the technologically sophisticated military that many imagined it to be,” he said. “Despite the fact there has been a lot of modernisation within the Russian army, much of the equipment was built during the Cold War – some has been modernised.
“It was not designed to stand up against modern western weapons that the Ukrainians now have, weapons which have been specifically designed to annihilate such equipment. Moreover, it is not clear how serviceable Russian tanks and armour are: as Russia pulls up more from its reserves, it will become increasingly old and rusty.”
A British army artillery source, who asked not to be identified, said the war has demonstrated significant problems with tanks in modern warfare.
Tanks are being “popped open like a tin of beans” by cheap portable missile systems, the source said. “This entire exercise has been a good confidence booster for western infantry anti-tank capability.”
A former British tank commander said the new model was costly, harder to maintain and required more difficult training compared with older designs.
Russia upgraded the thousands of older T-72 tanks in its armoury, which was more cost-effective.
The T-72B3M variant, upgraded from 2016, is in effect “the premier tank in Russian service”, the defence expert said. “This is more vulnerable on the battlefield due to limited armour.”
THE TIMES
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