Ukraine is recovering vehicles locked up in a Russian minefield

Ukrainian forces have begun recovering some of the roughly 25 Western-donated tanks and other military vehicles that were lost in a minefield near Mala Tokmachka during the opening salvo of Kyiv’s long-awaited counter-offensive against Russia on June 8th. 

Footage of the intense fighting from the area started spreading on Russian social media channels shortly after the Ukrainian advance began showing a group of armored military vehicles pinned down and bunched together in a minefield according to The Guardian. 

Other videos showed Russian shells and rockets smashing into the ground around one of Ukraine's German-supplied Leopard tanks and American Bradley Fighting Vehicles, soldiers were also seen running from one vehicle to another under very heavy smoke. 

When the dust of the encounter settled, several Ukrainian soldiers were left dead on the battlefield, their vehicles were left abandoned, and Russian commentators praised their military’s victory over their enemy—though these details were challenged by Ukraine. 

Both sides made conflicting claims about the encounter but the reality of what happened eventually made its way to the public and it wasn’t nearly as dire as the original Russian accounts made it out to seem but Ukraine did suffer a loss from which it has recovered. 

Forbes’ David Axe explained the details of the three weeks after the battle noting that a tricky Russian mine known as the TM-62 played a big role in the battle. The TM-62 isn’t anything fancy according to Axe but they were laid quite densely in the area attacked. 

The battle that took place south of Mala Tokmachka was part of a larger Ukrainian push to move through Russia’s Robotyne-Tokmak-Melitopol axis. Axe noted that if Kyiv was able to take Robotyne then it could move on to Tokmak and finally the city of Melitopol. 

Melitopol is important because if Ukrainian forces can break through and capture the city then they could not only effectively cut Moscow’s military in two but also remove the vital supply route Russia uses to bring arms and material to its armed forces in the south. 

“Liberating Melitopol would cut in half the Russian force in southern Ukraine,” Axe noted but added the Russians also understood the importance of the attack vector which was why two motorized divisions and a pair of Spetsnaz brigades were defending Robotyne.

Ukrainian mine-clearing vehicles led the way into battle on June 8th to clear the TM-62 mines but the battlegroup was spotted by Russian soldiers and a number of mines were not cleared, leading to several vehicles taking damage and the convoy getting trapped. 

The battlegroup soon started taking fire from Russian forces and that’s when the attack fell apart according to Axe, who noted that, “crews bailed out of their disabled vehicles, dragging their dead and wounded with them,” later getting saved by a rescue force. 

Mines defeated the Ukrainian Armed Forces on that day and roughly 25 vehicles were left on the battlefield but the silver lining behind the story is that many of those vehicles lost are now being recovered now that the frontlines have been pushed farther south. 

“The front line now is far enough to the south that recovery crews can begin towing away the immobilized M-2s, Leopard 2A6s, Leopard 2Rs and other vehicles the Ukrainians left behind in that minefield,” David Axe wrote in a separate report. 

A video of recovery efforts was shared by Axe in his report and the Forbes journalist pointed out that we can expect the Ukrainians to fix several of the damaged vehicles, noting it was vitally important that many of the Leopard 2 tanks were restored quickly. 

In four weeks since the counter-offensive, the Ukrainian army has lost two Leopard 2 tanks and five damaged—most of which were taken out of the fight when they struck mines at Mala Tokmachka but now could be recovered to fight again another day.

Axe noted that Ukrainian planners always knew they would suffer heavy vehicle losses once the counter-offensive began and prepared a major recovery effort to match plans aimed at pushing Russian forces out of the territories they still occupy in Ukraine. 

However, it is important to note that as the counter-offensive continues to grind against Russia there will be more losses, and not just Western-supplied vehicles but also brave men and women doing what they can to win a war few thought they ever have to fight.