On Aug. 6, a powerful Ukrainian force—a dozen or so 400-person battalions from as many as eight different brigades—invaded Russia’s Kursk Oblast, quickly capturing 400 square miles of the oblast from its unprepared Russian defenders.
It was a risky move by the Ukrainians. In devoting their last well-equipped units to a cross-border assault, they deprived units along the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine of vital reinforcements—a choice that led directly to the Ukrainians losing several key villages and towns to attacking Russians.
Most notable among these losses: the eastern town of Vuhledar, where the battered Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade had held out against its Russian assailants for two years. The outgunned brigade finally retreated amid heavy bombardment this week.
The Ukrainian general staff in Kyiv shrugged off its losses and not only sustained the invasion of Kursk—it doubled down, launching a second thrust into Russia 20 miles west of the main Kursk salient on Sept. 12.
Here, around the Russian village of Veseloe, the Ukrainian army’s 21st Mechanized Brigade and 225th Assault Battalion, plus supporting units, have been fighting a mobile battle with the local Russian garrison, maneuvering across fields and through treelines to find and exploit gaps in Russian defenses—apparently aiming to roll east and eventually join up with the main salient, thus surrounding any Russian troops left between the Veseloe thrust and the border.
It’s been a tough and chaotic fight for the 21st Mechanized Brigade and 225th Assault Battalion, which have been spotted in Kursk with Swedish-made CV90 fighting vehicles and Swedish- or German-made tanks—either Strv 122s or Leopard 2A6s. These are some of the best vehicles in the Ukrainian inventory.
Videos posted on social media over the weekend by the Ukrainian Khorne Group drone unit capture the chaos. In one video, a Strv 122 or Leopard 2A6—the two types are broadly similar, differing mostly in the lengths of their main guns—is towing away a damaged T-72 tank, perhaps a victim of Russian drone strikes in the fields southwest of Veseloe, when something explodes on or under the Strv 122 or Leopard 2A6. Possibly a mine. Possibly a drone.
Fortunately for the four-person crew of the afflicted tank, the Strv 122 and Leopard 2A6 are among the best-protected tanks in the world. Both weigh nearly 70 tons, largely owing to thick layers of steel and composite armor. Whatever struck the Ukrainian tank in the Khorne Group video, it merely inconvenienced it.
Billowing smoke or fire suppressant, the Strv 122 or Leopard 2A6 continues towing the disabled T-72, apparently heading for the relative safety of the Ukrainian side of the border.
Every Strv 122 and Leopard 2A6 is precious. Ukraine received just 10 Strv 122s from Sweden and 21 Leopard 2A6s from Germany and Portugal, all in 2023. As recently as this spring, the 20 or so survivors of those 31 tanks all belonged to the 21st Mechanized Brigade.
Where the Ukrainian army’s other Leopard 2 brigades—the 33rd and 155th Mechanized Brigades—operate older and more numerous Leopard 2A4 models and have received several batches of fresh tanks to replace battlefield losses, the 21st Mechanized Brigade with its newer tank models is unlikely to get fresh vehicles. The Swedish and German armies are struggling to sustain their own tank brigades; neither has signaled a willingness to part with any more of their better tanks.
There’s some evidence the 21st Mechanized Brigade has already lost at least one tank in Kursk. A video circulated online by Russian sources late last month depicts one Strv 122 burning after getting hit by an explosive first-person-view drone. It’s likely the tank is scorched on the inside and uneconomical to repair, even if Ukrainian troops managed to tow it off the battlefield the way they towed away that damaged T-72.
That Ukrainian commanders are willing to risk their last few Strv 122s and Leopard 2A6s in Kursk speaks to the importance they’re placing on the Ukrainian invasion of the oblast. The invasion effort is costing the Ukrainians vulnerable towns and irreplaceable vehicles. So far, it’s a price they’re willing to pay to seize and hopefully hold a small part of Russia.
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