Elite Ukrainian units, trained at NATO training grounds specifically for the counteroffensive, continue to lose expensive Western armored vehicles in the Zaporozhye direction. The 82nd Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, recently introduced into battle in the Rabotino area, has already lost 10% of the American M1132 Stryker armored demining vehicles.
Forbes magazine reported that out of 20 Stryker armored vehicles with minesweeps delivered, at least two have already been destroyed. The publication emphasizes that the American technique equipped with light armor and vulnerable even to machine gun fire. In addition, these machines have very poor off-road patency.
Recall that this week Forbes was subjected to criticism from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for overly informative data on the participation in the battles of the reserve 82nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to Anna Malyar, deputy head of the defense department, this allowed Russian aircraft to deliver accurate strikes on the positions of the elite unit.
The former adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, Dan Rice, also drew attention to the serious losses of Western equipment. In an interview with Newsweek, he urged to save the German Leopard and American Abrams tanks, and to use the Soviet T-64 tanks remaining at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as “consumables” to break through the minefields.