Russia’s elite 155th Brigade is reportedly refusing to advance into the Ukrainian city of Vuhledar after suffering “catastrophic casualties” at the settlement’s mine-infested border crossing.
The Panzer Division appears to have mutinied after being ordered to drive straight into a heavily fortified minefield which, after repeated unsuccessful advances, was dubbed the “Corridor of Death”.
Vuhledar has resisted Putin’s suicidal wave tactics for months, nearly wiping out the brigade by late January, which is now being reinforced with powerful American anti-vehicle mines.
Putin’s elite brigade, which has served in Syria and has been stationed in Ukraine since the war began, lost 130 tanks after continued orders to attack the position and today consists mostly of inexperienced recruits.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s military told the Kyiv Post: “The brigade leaders and senior officers refuse to proceed with a new senseless attack as demanded by their unskilled commanders – to storm well-defended Ukrainian positions with little protection or preparation.” “
Deadly crossings in eastern Ukraine are dubbed the “corridor of death” for advancing tanks
Still shows the moment a Russian BMP sets off an anti-vehicle mine at the infamous intersection
Russian armored divisions hate driving through those hellish intersections reinforced with American anti-vehicle mines
Russian tank explodes after being hit by a bomb dropped by a drone in Ukraine in undated footage released March 2023
Ukrainian forces around the town of Vuhledar have been locked in “bitter” fighting with Russia to the east for months.
The battered mining town is a hellscape of burned-out buildings and artillery shelling.
But the use of mines in Ukraine has exacerbated Russia’s difficulties over the winter and achieved a sustained advance.
Video footage from late February showed the moment a Russian 144th Brigade BMP infantry fighting vehicle was destroyed after being hit by two mines and being hit by an anti-tank weapon.
The vehicle gradually comes to a halt after a large explosion, causing smoke to rise from the vehicle.
Almost the entire 155th Marine Brigade of 5,000 men was wiped out near Vuhledar in late January when they drove into minefields from American-supplied outlying anti-tank mines.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has nonetheless told commanders to take the city at all costs.
But the armored division, as well as two “Cossack” units, appear to have mutinied after repeated unsuccessful efforts.
Justin Crump, a British military analyst, said of the Russian Wave’s tactics: “To repeat the same thing over and over again and hope for a different outcome is a sign of insanity.”
While the Institute for the Study of War states that Ukrainian forces are now likely to conduct a “limited tactical withdrawal” from the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces around Vuhledar remain steadfast in their defense of the city.
A report also noted that the commander of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Khodakovsky, had questioned whether Russian forces were prepared for a possible Ukrainian counterattack after he was – in his words – “carried away by Bakhmut”. [and] Vühledar’.
The deployment of Soviet-era TM-62 anti-vehicle mines in Ukraine has been effective in defending Ukrainian cities and towns, but the deployment of 7,200 US-supplied anti-tank mines has significantly strengthened defense lines.
The RAAMs can be dispersed from afar, allowing Ukrainian defenders to lay traps for advancing Russian tanks from afar without laying them one at a time and manually from the minefields.
In the American RAAM mines, a shell is fired across an open area, which scatters a cluster of tiny mines over a given area.
The mine is a 155mm howitzer containing nine separate mines.
A Ukrainian soldier stands near a mortar on a front line as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues near the front-line town of Bakhmut, Ukraine, March 6, 2023
Ukraine is bound by the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use of anti-personnel mines.
This does not prohibit the use of anti-vehicle mines or remote-controlled mines.
Russia has never signed the convention, known informally as the Ottawa Treaty, and has no obligation not to use such mines.
The intruders used at least seven types of anti-personnel mines in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev and Sumy.
Human Rights Watch claimed in late January that, contrary to previous reports, Ukraine had used so-called petal mines in and around the Ukrainian city of Izium.
They noted that Russia “has used these weapons in even greater numbers than Ukraine in a much more widespread manner in different parts of the country.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11826665/Elite-Russian-tank-brigade-suffers-huge-losses-mutinies-order-advance-minefield.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Russian elite tank brigade suffers huge casualties and mutinies after being ordered to advance on a minefield
