Ukraine's New NATO Armored Carriers Charge Russian Positions At Bakhmut

The Ukrainians are using what they have been given as a stop gap as they wait for the more modern - and lethal - NATO weaponry to arrive and for their troops to be trained in combined arms warfare with them. 

In the interim, the Ukrainians are testing tactics and equipment against Russian and Wagner troops to hone their skills. JL 

Stetson Payne reports in The Drive:

Even as 100-year-old trench warfare tactics occur in the mud of Eastern Ukraine, the much-rumored offensive and liberation of Russian-occupied (territory) will depend, in part, on the fleet of advanced western armored fighting vehicles headed to Ukrainian units. Video from a Ukrainian unit shows M113s and Dutch-supplied YPR-765s (based on the M113) assault Wagner PMC positions. The aging M113s YPR-765s, hardly 'tip of the spear' combat vehicles compared to their more modern successors, are in the fight. Ukraine is making do with the best armor it has on hand, even if far from ideal.

The rumble of tracked vehicles and the crackle of heavy machine guns, all instruments in the deadly orchestra of mechanized warfare in Eastern Ukraine.

Intriguing video from a Ukrainian unit shows M113s and Dutch-supplied YPR-765s (which is based on the M113) in a reported assault on Wagner PMC positions, the battlefield's horizon only a dismal, splintered hellscape behind the APCs. The video has very strong WWI vibes.

The company-sized unit’s vehicles advance and reverse in sequence, careful to not sit idle in the face of enemy fire while troops hug the dirt around them. 

On the war’s first anniversary, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told CNN that the U.S. is “training and equipping several brigades of mechanized infantry” capable of breaching the Russian defenses along an increasingly static frontline. While the combination of those new brigades and their advanced equipment have not reached the battlefield yet, the combat seen in the video above is just a taste of what Ukraine wants to bring to bear against the Russians.

However, it will take more than just advanced armored vehicles to break Russian lines. As shown in combat throughout the last year of the war, armored vehicles are noisy death traps without requisite support from infantry and other units. 

Reports of a failed Ukrainian attack on March 15 near the town of Novodanylivka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast are a brutal example of just that. Video shows several burning armored vehicles in open terrain in the aftermath, with Russian accounts claiming to have repulsed the assault.

Regardless, even as a relapse of 100-year-old trench warfare tactics occurs in the mud of Eastern Ukraine, the much-rumored offensive and planned liberation of Russian-occupied Crimea will depend, in part, on the promised fleet of advanced western armored fighting vehicles headed to Ukrainian units.

At least for now, we see just how much the aging M113s and their YPR-765 cousins, hardly 'tip of the spear' combat vehicles compared to their more modern successors, are in the fight. It's remarkable and terrifying to see. Ukraine is clearly making do with the best armor it has on hand, even if it is far from ideal.