On Feb. 25, an elite Russian drone group—the Rubicon Center of Advanced Unmanned Systems—launched a devastating wave of attacks on the main supply line supporting the Ukrainian garrison in Sudzha, the center of the Ukrainian-held salient in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
Employing what analyst Andrew Perpetua described as “advanced drone tactics” including elaborate ambushes involving multiple explosive drones “striking the front, back and sides of a vehicle almost simultaneously,” Rubicon swiftly knocked out hundreds of Ukrainian vehicles.
It was “the day you started worrying about Kursk,” Perpetua wrote. Two weeks later on Monday or Tuesday, the Ukrainian force—10,000 troops in multiple heavy brigades—slipped out of Kursk.
Starving for supplies and in danger of being cut off, the retreating Ukrainians moved quickly, apparently under the cover of darkness. Whatever heavy equipment they couldn’t take with them, they simply abandoned—effectively leaving them for the Russians to seize.
The prizes included some of the best vehicles and artillery belonging to some of Ukraine’s best brigades.
M-1 Abrams tank
Under former President Joe Biden, the United States donated 31 of the 69-ton, four-person M-1s—each thickly armored and armed with an accurate 120-millimeter gun—to Ukraine in 2023. The tanks equipped a single battalion in the elite 47th Mechanized Brigade, whose battalions have fought practically non-stop in southern and eastern Ukraine for nearly two years.
Fighting aggressively, frequently on the attack, the 47th Mechanized Brigade often found itself abandoning damaged M-1s in the contested no-man’s-land between Ukrainian and Russian lines, complicating efforts to recover the multi-million-dollar tanks. So it should come as no surprise that, as the brigade fled Kursk, it left behind another damaged Abrams … and the Russians captured it.
The loss brings the 47th Mechanized Brigade’s M-1 losses to at least 10 and as many as 19. Fortunately for the brigade, 49 fresh M-1s are coming soon from Australian army surplus.
M-2 Bradley fighting vehicle
The 33-ton, 10-person M-2 may be the best fighting vehicle of the Russia-Ukraine war. With its balanced combination of mobility, protection and firepower—thanks to its fast-firing 25-millimeter autocannon.
The Biden administration sent more than 300 Bradleys to Ukraine, and the Ukrainians distributed them to at least six 31-vehicle battalions, including several with the 47th Mechanized Brigade. The units have fought hard on the offense and defense across Ukraine—and, before this week, had written off at least 80 of their beloved Brads.
The example captured in Kursk might be the 81st.
Worse for the Ukrainians, no more Bradleys are coming unless the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump pledges additional copies from U.S. Army surplus.
Considering that Trump temporarily halted all U.S. aid to Ukraine following a disastrous Feb. 28 press conference in the Oval Office, during which he and Vice President J.D. Vance absurdly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for being insufficiently grateful for the weapons and other aid Biden sent to Ukraine—including the M-2s—those Ukrainian battalions shouldn’t hold their breath.
M-777 howitzer
The arrival of the first U.K.-made M-777 howitzer in Ukraine in the spring of 2022 was a turning point for the embattled country. It marked the slow transition of Ukraine’s outgunned artillery corps from outdated ex-Soviet guns and shells to the latest Western guns and shells.
A 4.5-ton M-777 can fire an unguided shell out to a distance of up to 19 miles. That’s several miles farther than a 152-millimeter, ex-Soviet 2S3 can fire. In all, the Ukrainians have received around 200 M-777s and used them all along the 800-mile front line.
But their ubiquity exposes them to the full range of Russian counterbattery fire—and their importance makes them priority targets. In 37 months of hard fighting, culminating in the grinding battle in Kursk, the Ukrainians have lost at least 55 M-777s. The gun the Russians captured while retaking the oblast may be the first intact M-777 in Russian hands.
In all, the Ukrainians lost around 500 vehicles and other heavy equipment in Kursk. The Russians lost around 600.
While that might seem like a win of sorts for Ukraine, Russia can spare much more equipment than Ukraine can. Ukrainian commanders try to maintain a three-to-one loss ratio in their favor—a ratio they obviously failed to maintain in attempting, and ultimately failing, to hang on in Kursk.
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