The recently established Ukrainian Leopard 2 tank unit started dissolving before reaching the battlefront.
A duo of Russian field armies, supervising around 70,000 troops in numerous regiments and brigades, is heading towards Pokrovsk, a fortified city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.
Preparing for the imminent attack, which marks the conclusion of a Russian campaign that has been underway for over a year, the Ukrainians are strengthening Pokrovsk. However, one of the reinforcing units, the recently formed 155th Mechanized Brigade—one of the few Ukrainian brigades equipped with German-made Leopard 2 tanks and French-made Caesar howitzers—started disintegrating before it even reached the besieged city last week.
The brigade was supposed to have over 5,800 troops, making it significantly larger than most Ukrainian ground forces' approximately 100 other combat brigades. However, around 1,700 of those 5,800 troops disappeared without a trace from the brigade at some point during its nine-month preparation in western Ukraine, Poland, and France. As recently as November, roughly 500 soldiers were reportedly still missing.
"The issue lies in organizational and leadership failure," said Tatarigami, the founder of the Frontelligence Insight analysis group in Ukraine. Under Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky, military leaders including commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Stanislavovych Syrskyi have prioritized forming new inexperienced brigades—at least 14 of them—over reinforcing existing veteran brigades that, after 34 months of intense combat, may be down to half or less of their original strength.
However, the new brigades are lacking in cohesion—with inconsistent leadership, missing equipment, and entire battalions of novice recruits who have a propensity for deserting their brigade at the first opportunity. Engaging in battle outside Pokrovsk in recent days, the 155th Mechanized Brigade suffered substantial casualties, reportedly even losing some of its tanks and other armored vehicles.
Those troops and tanks would have had a better chance of survival fighting under experienced brigades, said Lt. Col. Bohdan Krotevych, chief of staff of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Azov Brigade. "Is it sheer foolishness to create new brigades and equip them with such equipment, while leaving incomplete existing ones?" Krotevych asked.
It's not necessarily foolishness—it's politics. Under pressure to prove to Ukraine's ficklest allies that Ukraine still has reserves of power and the ability to continue fighting, Zelensky and his top generals have opted to create new brigades. They have done so even though it might be more strategically sound to reinforce older brigades with fresh troops and equipment.
"The country's top political and military leadership actually played with the 155th [Mechanized] Brigade, without even making a concerted effort to prepare and train the brigade, and without giving the brigade commanders time to create a combat-ready team themselves," Ukrainian war correspondent Yuriy Butusov wrote.
Ironically, the 155th Mechanized Brigade's disastrous debut in combat forced Ukrainian leaders to do with the brigade's remaining troops and equipment what Tatarigami and Krotevych had suggested from the outset: assign these forces to well-established brigades in the Pokrovsk area.
However, this won't bring back the personnel and tanks the 155th Mechanized Brigade lost last week.
The 155th Mechanized Brigade, one of Ukraine's few units equipped with Leopard 2 tanks and Caesar howitzers, was alleged to have experienced significant troop loss before reaching Pokrovsk, due to desertions during its preparation in Ukraine, Poland, and France. Despite Russia's advancement towards Pokrovsk with around 70,000 troops, including the Leopard 2-equipped 155th Mechanized Brigade from Ukraine, the city is being fortified by Ukrainian forces.
