The move would allow more sophisticated Leopard and Abrams tanks to be saved for a decisive battle later on, Dan Rice has said
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian servicemen of the Adam tactical group ride a T-64 tank towards a front line near the town of Bakhmut. © Sergey SHESTAK / AFP
Ukraine should rely on its stockpile of outdated Soviet armor to break through the first lines of Russian defences, while keeping its Western-supplied tanks in reserve, a former American adviser to Kiev’s top general has suggested, amid the stalling counter-offensive.
Dan Rice, speaking in an interview with Newsweek published on Tuesday, said extensive Russian minefields are among the main obstacles facing Ukrainian troops. Rice previously worked as a consultant for Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, and now serves as president of American University in Kiev.
The older tanks such as the Soviet-era T-64 are “more expendable” when ploughing through the Russian outer defense perimeter, the ex-adviser said, noting that German-made Leopards and US-designed M1 Abrams could enter the fray once Ukrainian troops drive a wedge into Russian lines. While Kiev has already put Leopards into combat, Abrams tanks are not expected to arrive in Ukraine until early autumn.
“You aren’t going to risk your best tanks breaking known minefields”, Rice explained.
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Commenting on Kiev’s battle tactics, Marina Miron, a post-doctoral researcher in the department of war studies at King’s College London, told Newsweek that Ukraine “tried using Leopards and got bogged down in the minefields… This was a bitter lesson for the Ukrainian forces.”
Ukraine went on a counter-offensive against Russian positions in early June after being reinforced by hundreds of Western heavy tanks and other weaponry, but has so far failed to gain significant ground, according to Moscow. In early August, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated Ukrainian losses at more than 43,000 service personnel since the start of the push.
Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses in military equipment, with Moscow claiming to have destroyed nearly 5,000 units, including at least 25 Leopards and 21 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
In mid-July, the New York Times reported that Ukraine had lost around 20% of its equipment sent to the battlefield. A Wall Street Journal report, published around the same time, said Kiev’s backers were “jolted” the rate of losses.
Officials in Kiev have acknowledged difficulties in the counter-offensive, pointing to stiff Russian resistance, a lack of air power, delays in Western arms deliveries, and the formidable defenses and minefields that Moscow was able to set up in the weeks before Kiev’s campaign.
