An attempt by the Ukrainian army’s 47th Assault Brigade and 33rd Mechanized Brigade to cross a minefield in southern Ukraine on June 8 was even more disastrous than we knew.
Analysts recently have tallied even more wrecked and abandoned 47th Brigade M-2 infantry fighting vehicles. At the same time, a Ukrainian photographer on or before Saturday got close enough to the site of the failed assault to snap photos of the Russian minefield that trapped the Ukrainian battlegroup, ultimately destroying dozens of 47th and 33rd Brigades’ best Western-made vehicles and killing or wounding many Ukrainians.
Ukraine’s widely-anticipated 2023 counteroffensive was just four days old when the 47th-33rd battlegroup rolled south from Mala Tokmachka in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Their objective: the Russian strongpoint in the town of Robotyne, five miles to the south along the T0408 road and parallel dirt tracks.
If the Ukrainians can break through Russian lines in Robotyne, they can advance on Tokmak, 12 miles farther south. If they can break through Russian lines in Tokmak, they can make a go at Melitopol, 25 miles away along the T0401. Liberating Melitopol would cut in half the Russian force in southern Ukraine.
The Russians are well aware of the importance of the Robotyne-Tokmak-Melitopol axis. Two motor-rifle regiments, the 70th and 291st, have dug in north of Robotyne alongside a pair of Spetznaz special-forces brigades and some reservists. Russian air force helicopters patrol overhead.
And then there are the mines, including hundreds or even thousands of TM-62s. The 21-pound TM-62 is your traditional mine: a big metal disk, packed with explosives and fitted with one of several fuze types. The pressure fuze might be the most popular. Engineers bury TM-62s by hand or speed up the operation by deploying a GMZ minelaying vehicle.
There’s nothing fancy about a pressure-fuze TM-62. But there doesn’t have to be when you lay them as densely as Russian engineers clearly did south of Mala Tokmachka. The recent photos of the old battlefield depict unexploded TM-62s lying just a few feet apart in the minefield equivalent of a thick carpet.
Russian scouts spotted the 47th-33rd Brigade battlegroup approaching Robotyne on June 8 and called in Kamov attack helicopters that plucked at the Ukrainian column with anti-tank missiles. But it was the mines that did in the 33rd and 47th Brigades.
The 47th Brigade’s ex-Finnish Leopard 2R mineclearing vehicles led the way, assisted by at least one German-made Wisent mineclearer possibly belonging to the 33rd Brigade.
The mineclearing vehicles plowed up some of the mines, clearing a few lanes partially through the minefield. 47th Brigade M-2s and MaxxPro armored trucks—all donated by the United States—followed close behind.
But the British-made plows on the Leopard 2Rs and Wisent clearly missed more than a few mines. Three Leopard 2Rs and a Wisent struck mines, as did several M-2s. Trapped and under fire, the battlegroup fell apart. Crews bailed out of their disabled vehicles, dragging their dead and wounded with them. A rescue force riding in M-2s scooped up many of the survivors.
In the hours after the retreat, 47th Brigade chief master sergeant Valerii Markus went on social media to tell critics to “shut your mouths.”
The smoke cleared to reveal no fewer than 25 wrecked Ukrainian vehicles: 17 M-2s, four Leopard 2A6 tanks, three Leopard 2Rs and one Wisent. To outside observers, the losses initially seemed lighter. But over the next two weeks, analysts scrutinized drone videos and snapshots from the ground and steadily added to the list.
Losing one Wisent isn’t that big of a deal for the Ukrainian army: it has dozens of the vehicles. But the Ukrainians initially received just a hundred of the versatile M-2s and 21 of the high-tech Leopard 2A6s with their far-firing 55-caliber cannons. And Finland gave Ukraine all six of the Leopard 2Rs.
In a bloody hour or two, the 47th-33rd Brigade battlegroup lost nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s M-2s, a fifth of its Leopard 2A6s and half its Leopard 2Rs. The United States promptly pledged more than enough extra M-2s to make good the June 8 losses, but Ukraine’s European allies have yet to pony up more Leopard 2A6s. And there literally aren’t any more Leopard 2Rs.
Despite losing the equivalent of an entire battalion in a single botched assault—that’s roughly 15 percent of the combined front-line strength of two brigades—the 33rd and 47th Brigades apparently remain intact … and still are in the fight. On Monday, Markus posted a selfie from a recent firefight.
The disaster of June 8 slowed but didn’t halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive along this sector. That a Ukrainian photographer safely could reach the site of the minefield debacle speaks to the slow progress Kyiv’s troops have made south of Mala Tokmachka.
The analysts with the independent Conflict Intelligence Team speculated that some of the derelict Leopard 2s and M-2s in the area might not be total write-offs. “It is possible to evacuate these military vehicles,” CIT stated.
But the recent photos underscore the extent of the damage. One abandoned Leopard 2A6s is scorched and rusting. At least one of the M-2s lost its turret.
And many of the mines still are there. Ukrainian forces would have to secure the area, throw up an air-defense umbrella and clear the mines before they could begin towing away the wrecked vehicles.
The effort, and risk, might not be worth the prize: a handful of damaged vehicles that would require weeks if not months of work to restore. There’s no denying the June 8 battle south of Mala Tokmachka was a disaster for the Ukrainian army.
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