To surround the eastern fortress city of Pokrovsk from the south, Russian forces first have to roll back Ukrainian defenses in Kurakhove, a village on the bank of the Vovcha River 18 miles south of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
The Ukrainian army’s 33rd Mechanized Brigade and its German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks stand in their way. On Monday, a powerful Russian force rolled toward Dalnje, just south of Kurakhove, clearly aiming to fight its way through the former in order to bypass and cut off the latter.
Well-aimed cannon fire from the 61-ton, four-person Leopard 2A4s—31 of which equip the 33rd Mechanized Brigade’s tank battalion—put a quick stop to the Russian assault. As a Ukrainian drone observed from overhead, at least one Leopard 2A4 firing armor-piercing rounds shot holes through two Russian tanks, an armored personnel carrier and several other vehicles. Ukrainian drones chased after the survivors.
“Effective work just blows the heads off the enemies,” the 33rd Mechanized Brigade crowed.
The battle in Dalnje was a return to form for Ukraine’s tanks. The proliferation of explosive drones has changed how tankers fight on both sides of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine. “Enemy and friendly drones crisscross the air space, hunting for valuable targets like heavy armor and artillery,” David Kirichenko wrote for the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C. “This aerial cat-and-mouse game has fundamentally altered tank tactics.”
Today, it’s common for Russian and Ukrainian tanks to hide in treelines, emerging only to fire a few cannon rounds at targets miles away—or, less often, to lead some desperate assault like the Russians’ attack on Dalnje. It’s a new “era of the cautious tank,” according to CEPA.
The 33rd Mechanized Brigade’s up-armored Leopard 2A4s were anything but cautious on Monday. They fought close—and won. It helped the Ukrainian tankers that the Russian column was led by two “turtle tanks” fitted with bulky anti-drone armor that obscures the crews’ visibility and also prevents the tanks’ turrets from rotating.
“Limited visibility and engagement options once you ‘turtled’ your tank—and suddenly you find yourself in an engagement with a Leo 2,” quipped open-source intelligence analyst Moklasen.
The Russians have redoubled their offensive toward Pokrovsk while also launching a counteroffensive against the Ukrainian-held salient in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine—potentially by leaning on Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire along the current front line.
Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin is determined to maximize Russian gains and minimize Ukrainian gains ahead of possible negotiations. The pace of Russian attacks has doubled or tripled in Kursk in recent days; there’s been an uptick in attacks around Kurakhove, too.
The Russians are going for broke—but the Ukrainians are, too. “Anyone who thinks Ukrainians will simply give up hasn’t been paying attention,” mused Tatarigami, the founder of the Ukrainian Frontelligence Insight analysis group.
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