The Definition of Insanity: Russian Tanks Destroyed Attacking Vuhledar - Again

The definition of insanity is often described as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. 

Which almost perfectly captures Russian offensive tactics around Vuhledar this month after they lost 130 tanks and other armor there last month. JL 

Ellie Cook reports in Newsweek:

Russia reported "limited ground attacks" near Vuhledar over the weekend. Ukraine's military has shared footage of destroyed Russian military vehicles outside the town. Vuhledar saw intense clashes earlier this year, with Russian forces failing to capture the settlement after a three-week offensive. Russia's military lost at least 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers. "It shows the Russians are not able to effectively attack the Ukrainians, that they are at the tactical level, still not coordinating very well."

Ukraine's military has shared footage of what appear to be destroyed Russian military vehicles outside the contested town of Vuhledar.

Ukraine's Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who heads up the Tavria Tactical and Strategic Group, posted an image on Telegram of abandoned and damaged vehicles near the Donetsk settlement, which has seen heavy fighting. The image has since circulated on social media.

The vehicles were described as tanks by Ukrainian media, but appear to be a mixture of tanks and armored personnel carriers.Ukrainian forces are "holding positions" around Vuhledar, and blocking Russian forces from advancing towards the embattled nearby city of Avdiivka, Tarnavskyi said in his Telegram post.

"Our artillery works well, every soldier in the trenches today performs tasks at the highest level," the commander wrote.Newsweek has reached out to Russia's defense ministry for comment via email.

The Ukrainian mining town of Vuhledar saw intense clashes earlier this year, with Russian forces failing to capture the settlement after a three-week offensive. Russia's military lost at least 130 tanks and armored personnel carriers during the offensive, The New York Times reported.

Former U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis told Newsweek that the losses highlighted "tactical errors".

"It shows that the Russians are not able to effectively attack the Ukrainians, that they are at the tactical level, still not coordinating very well," Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic & International Studies International Security Program, told Newsweek.

Russian "milbloggers" reported "limited ground attacks" near Vuhledar over the weekend, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Saturday. However, Ukraine's General Staff did not list Vuhledar as a fighting hotspot in an operational update on Sunday.

Russian forces "did not conduct offensive operations" around Vuhledar, although the settlement was "shelled," the General Staff wrote on Facebook.

 

Russian state media reports said on April 14 that Moscow's reconnaissance teams had taken out a Ukrainian stronghold near Vuhledar, killing 12 Ukrainian soldiers. Earlier in April, it was reported that the Russian defense ministry had dismissed Colonel-General Rustam Muradov as head of Russia's Eastern Group of Forces in Ukraine after "poorly conceived assaults repeatedly failed" to capture Vuhledar, the British defense ministry said on April 6.

Russia's 155th Naval Infantry brigade, which had been considered an elite brigade, has suffered heavy losses in Vuhledar. The brigade has been reconstituted up to eight times since the beginning of all-out war, "in large part due losses sustained during the prolonged effort against Vuhledar," the ISW said on March 24.Russian forces have conducted "human-wave style" frontal assaults in and around Vuhledar, according to Western analysts such as the ISW, leading to high casualty accounts.