Frontline report: Russian kamikaze tank tactics fail in Vuhledar direction

Day 582: 28 September 2023 Today, there is significant news from the Vuhledar direction. Russian forces have been unsuccessful in multiple offensive operations in this region, which has become known for being a challenging battleground for Russian tanks. It appears that the Russians have abandoned their attempts to take Vuhledar from the south, shifting their focus north toward Novomykhailivka.

The main idea is to penetrate the Ukrainian defenses through the fields, establish a stable bridgehead between Vuhledar and Marinka, and then strike both groups from the flanks. The Russian High Command also puts a lot of hope in this operation because if it is successful, Russians would be able to retake the initiative, forcing Ukrainians to cancel their counteroffensive and urgently redeploy forces to plug the hole in the front line. However, so far, the Russians progress here is negative – after months of continuous Russian strikes and assaults, Russians have lost one field in the aftermath of a Ukrainian counterattack back in August. That is why Russians were forced to develop a new tactic. Russian footage shows them launching these tanks through the fields. This is not the first time Russians have used kamikaze tanks. Previously, faced with strong Ukrainian resistance, they loaded a tank with explosives, directed it toward Ukrainian positions, and detonated it.

Today, Russians demonstrated how they improved their suicide tactic. Now, before launching the kamikaze tank, Russians conducted a demining operation under Ukrainian fire, where one Russian tank would clear the path at least through the proximate to the Russians field. Next, Russians brought in one of their tanks filled with tons of explosives and safely escorted it with another tank to the death zone. Once the tanks entered the death zone, the Russian crew prudently jumped out of the tank onto the minefield and tried to escape under artillery and mortar fire while the kamikaze tank continued its movement. Finally, the tank once again was immobilized by a mine and exploded even further from the Ukrainian positions than previously.

Russian sources claim this is a demining operation, but military analysts believe it's primarily aimed at destroying Ukrainian fortifications, which has proven unsuccessful. Such an inefficient expenditure of heavy equipment has a significant impact on the combat capability of the Russian forces that are fighting in this region. Recently released footage also shows hundreds of damaged pieces of equipment that are being relocated away from the front. As can be seen, the damage that the Russian BMD-2 vehicles incurred in most cases is substantial, so the repair will take a lot of time, and the Russian mechanized and motorized detachments will not be replenished for a long time.

Additionally, it appears the Russian High Command has lost faith in detachment commanders in Donetsk and its surroundings. Faced with challenges in advancing and creating a sufficient buffer zone, Russians are building another railway connection 30 km away from the front. Construction has begun and is expected to take at least six month. "Unfortunately for Russians, the whole length of the planned new railway connection is within HIMARS range, so the construction workers of the railroad will likely find themselves exactly in the same situation as the construction workers on the Antonivskyi Bridge near Kherson last year, making one step forward and two steps back every week".

Ukrainian intelligence and reconnaissance are monitoring these developments closely, emphasizing the importance of awareness not only on the front lines but also in multiple locations. In our daily  frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.