A Ukrainian anti-tank missile strikes a Russian 6th Tank Regiment vehicle.
Ukrainian air-assault forces capture
As Russian regiments occupied the ruins of Avdiivka, a former Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, and then continued attacking toward the west, one key Russian unit waited.
The 6th Tank Regiment was the 90th Tank Division’s operational reserve—its “breakthrough” unit. If the Russian troops probing Ukrainian defenses west of Avdiivka detected a weakness, it was the 6th Regiment’s mission to exploit that weakness—and break into the Ukrainian rear area to wreak havoc.
So why, on Saturday, did the 90th Division send the 6th Tank in a direct assault on intact defensive positions manned by the 25th Brigade, part of Ukraine’s elite air-assault forces, just west of the village of Tonen’ke?
The 6th Tank’s daylight assault was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, armored assaults of Russia’s 25-month wider war on Ukraine. The regiment “slightly advanced northwest of the village,” according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies.
But not for long. The assault ended in disaster for the Russians when the 6th Tank’s 48 vehicles—36 T-90 tanks and 12 BMP fighting vehicles crewed by hundreds of soldiers—rolled into a minefield. Then Ukrainian paratroopers fired anti-tank missiles, something they’re famously good at, and also launched explosives-laden first-person-view drones.
The Ukrainians “repelled this first massive assault,” CDS reported. The 6th Tank retreated, leaving behind 20 wrecked vehicles and potentially scores of dead bodies.
“Two significant observations can be made,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight noted.
“Firstly, Russian forces in the area have not lost their capacity or sufficient resources to conduct operations above the battalion level. This is concerning, as, despite substantial losses equivalent to the destruction of an entire division-sized force or an undermanned corps in Avdiivka, the ability to assemble a reinforced tank battalion poses a threat to Ukrainian defenses.”
Worse, the Ukrainians are struggling fully to man and supply their front-line positions as they await long-delayed aid from the United States as well as the passage of a new mobilization law in Kyiv—a law that would authorize the Ukrainian armed forces to draft tens of thousands of fresh troops.
Frontelligence Insight’s second observation is more hopeful for Ukraine. “Reportedly, the 6th Regiment was assigned the task of exploiting gaps in defenses and advancing further into Ukrainian territory,” the group explained.
“That’s good news for Ukraine since the use of a exploiting force to create a breakthrough suggests that Russian forces are encountering significant challenges and taking quite desperate measures.”
In other words, the 90th Division may have realized it wasn’t making the progress it planned to make—and got impatient and thus sloppy. It deployed its breakthrough regiment before breaking through Ukrainian lines.
A force designed to run amuck in the Ukrainians’ undefended rear area instead ran headlong into mines, drones and the Ukrainian air-assault forces’ notoriously bloodthirsty anti-tank missileers.
Sources:
1. Center for Defense Strategies: https://cdsdailybrief.substack.com/p/russias-war-on-ukraine-01042024
2. Frontelligence Insight: https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/exclusive-report-frontline-analysis
3. Ukraine Control Map: https://www.google.com/mymaps/viewer?mid=180u1IkUjtjpdJWnIC0AxTKSiqK4G6Pez&hl=en_US
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
