Published: Less than 10 min ago
The Russians were lured into a trap and had no chance of escape when it closed.
It is said to have lost 130 armored vehicles and scores of soldiers in the “epic battle”
Furious relatives now want the responsible general to pay for the fiasco, according to a channel on Telegram close to the Wagner group.
A three-week “epic” battle near Vuhledar ended in the biggest tank battle of the entire war – and a major fiasco for Russia.
The writes The New York Times citing Ukrainian sources participating in the defense of the city in the southeast of the country.
Relatives of Russian soldiers tricked to death are now furious and demanding revenge against the commander responsible for the offensive in Vuhledar.
Straight into the trap
The Russians reportedly advanced in traditional columns while the Ukrainian forces maneuvered around in defensive positions, waiting and firing when the enemy was in sight.
When this phase of the fighting was over, the Russians had not only failed to take Vuhleder. They had also lost a large number of tanks and scores of soldiers.
According to Ukraine, the enemy made the same mistake as earlier in the war: Driven straight into death by driving the tanks in columns against a lurking resistance that was prepared.
– We studied the roads they used, hid and waited, says Sergeant Artyom Knignitsky to The New York Times.
Ukrainian drone images show the wreckage of Russian armored vehicles lying burned out in agricultural fields all around Vuhledar.
Knocked out elite units
Russia is said to have lost at least 130 tanks and troop transport vehicles during the weeks of the attempted offensive.
However, that figure cannot be confirmed, writes The New York Times.
Behind the Russian problems in Vuhledar lies, in addition to the tactics, a lack of experienced personnel, the newspaper writes.
Most elite units have suffered heavy losses earlier in the war and experienced soldiers have been replaced with new recruits.
During the fighting at Vuhledar, much of what remained of the 155th Marines is said to have been knocked out, writes Politico.
– The 155th brigade has already been forced to replace personnel three times. The first time after Irpin and Butja. The second time they suffered losses near Donetsk and were able to recover. And now almost the entire brigade is already gone near Vuhledar, Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, press spokesperson for the Ukrainian military, told the site.
The wagon driver was a paramedic
According to Ukrainian soldiers, one of the prisoners of war taken during the fighting was a medic who had been retrained as a tank commander.
A video posted by Ukrainian marines on social media shows panic on the battlefield near Vuhledar as Russian tanks drive into mined ground.
– Make a graveyard! My God, the first column went there and blew up. And the second column went exactly the same way, says a surprised Ukrainian soldier in the clip according to Politico.
Gray Zone, a channel on Telegram linked to the Wagner group, now writes that “relatives of the dead are almost leaning towards murder or blood revenge against the general” responsible for the Russian tactics surrounding Vuhledar, writes The New York Times.
The Ukrainian lieutenant Vladislav Bayak tells the newspaper in detail how the ambush against the Russian armored forces is carried out.
Hiding in bunker
Hiding in a bunker, they watched using surveillance footage from a drone as the first column of 15 tanks and other armored vehicles approached.
– We were ready. We knew something like this would happen, he says.
They had a prepared place where the attack would take place.
Forces with anti-tank weapons hid in the edge of the forest and further away they were ready with artillery fire. The road was clear of mines, but in the surrounding fields they were everywhere.
In this way, the Russians were tricked forward, while they would not be able to turn and escape when the trap sprung again.
According to Lieutenant Bayak, the column was most vulnerable when the shelling began and the panicked drivers tried to run away – straight into the minefield.
Blown up tanks became barriers that slowed or stopped the column.
Then the artillery shelling began, destroying more vehicles and killing soldiers who climbed out of the wreckage.
In a last similar battle almost a week ago, 16 tanks and troop transport vehicles were destroyed.