Commander Explains Ambush: How the Russians Trapped Wuhleder

The commander announces an ambush
How the Russians got trapped near Wuhledar

3/2/2023 1:41 am

Russian troops attempt to break through the front near Wuhletar. But all the attacks fail. A Ukrainian commander told the New York Times how Moscow’s troops are failing in the region.

According to their own reports, Ukrainian units destroyed at least 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers during the three-week battle for the eastern Ukrainian mining town of Wuhleder. It states “The New York Times” (NYT) According to this, the Ukrainian military is talking about the biggest tank battle of the war.

While Russian tactics, as at the beginning of the war, were based on advances with tank columns without flank protection, the Ukrainians relied on ambushes, the American newspaper writes. “We studied the roads they were using, hid and waited,” a Ukrainian non-commissioned officer told the newspaper.

According to Vladislav Bayak, deputy commander of the battalion of the 72nd mechanized brigade, the Ukrainians carefully prepared the terrain in anticipation of a Russian attack. Accordingly, the anti-tank groups hid in the rows of trees in the fields, while the artillery pieces retreated further and took up positions. According to reports, Ukraine left the unpaved road towards Vuhledar free of mines, while the surrounding fields were strewn with mines. The idea behind this: the Russians should be encouraged to advance, while preventing them from fleeing quickly when fighting begins.

According to Bajak, tank columns are at great risk when the battle begins, when panicked drivers try to retreat. Because they drive on the shoulders of the road. Tanks ejected by mines act as obstacles, slowing or stopping the column altogether. It was then that the Ukrainian artillery received the order to open fire, destroying the tanks and killing the personnel climbing out of the vehicles.

Lacking alternatives, Russian commanders sent the new wave of tanks forward for several days before they were fired upon by the Ukrainians, the NYT continues. In one instance, Ukrainian defenders reportedly requested a HIMARS missile strike to destroy a Russian column. The US-made rocket launchers are typically used against fixed targets such as ammunition depots or camps, but are said to have proven effective against columns as well. According to the NYT, due to high material losses, Moscow meanwhile switched to an infantry-only offensive.

The scale of the Russian defeat at Vulture had already created resentment within Russia. Analysts at the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) report that military bloggers close to the Kremlin are publicly calling for the punishment of commanders responsible for the costly attack. Wuhledar’s storm is led by the same people who have “destroyed significant amounts of personnel and equipment” in the past. telegram.