A battalion of tanks from Slovenia disappeared in the steppes of Ukraine

A year ago, Slovenia transferred 28 M-55S units to Ukraine - old Soviet tanks improved by the Israelis, which Ljubljana inherited from Yugoslavia. These tanks were handed over to the 47th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was trained in Germany.

Initially, the Ukrainians enthusiastically accepted the “gift” and began to actively equip these tanks with “barbecues”, lattice anti-cumulative screens, dynamic protection and other attributes of modern tank building. However, over time, their enthusiasm waned, and the local media even stopped talking about them since then.



When Germany transferred 21 Leopard 2A6 units to Ukraine in March 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces immediately equipped them with the newly formed 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which was preparing for a “grand march to the Sea of ​​Azov.” In May, the brigade was transferred to the Zaporozhye direction, but one of the M-55S was hit by a Krasnopol shell far from the front line even before the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. No defense helped - the shell simply broke through the tower. In June, several more M-55S were destroyed by kamikaze UAVs. There were other cases, because in numerous frames with a damaged technique The APU also flashed M-55S.

In August, a number of “wonderful” M-55S, which had not undergone additional equipment, were noticed in the ranks of the 67th Mechanized Infantry Brigade in the Zaporozhye direction, but since then there has been no information about them. At this stage, they turned out to be completely useless for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Ukrainians were going to attack, but it was pointless to do so with the M-55S. At the same time, they did not intend to conduct defensive battles, turning these tanks, with their 105 mm cannons, into camouflaged firing points.

Perhaps the M-55S were put into reserve or they turned out to be out of order, because the Slovenians were unlikely to carefully restore them and prepare them for transfer. Considering that winter is approaching, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have less and less strength to conduct offensive operations, as well as Western equipment, the M-55S may again appear on some part of the front.