Russia launched one of its largest tank assaults west of Avdiivka. Ukraine destroyed a third of them

When the smoke cleared, the Russians had left behind – on a road west of the ruins of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine – a third of their tanks. Russia is preparing the ground for a large-scale offensive this year, by early summer, Zelenski warned.

“On the Avdiivka direction, the enemy has reintroduced the use of armored vehicles, including tanks,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies noted on Friday, a day before a battalion or two of these vehicles entered a bloodbath near Tonen’ ke.

Thirty-six tanks and 12 infantry fighting vehicles from the Russian Army’s 6th Tank Regiment – part of the 90th Tank Division – attacked along a road connecting Russian-held Tonen’ke to the free village of Uman’ske. The Ukrainian 25th Brigade spotted the column of 48 vehicles and hit it hard. “Twelve tanks and eight MLIs were destroyed,” wrote “Kriegsforscher,” a drone operator with the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade.

The attack near Avdiivka is likely to be part of Putin’s plan for a larger offensive and is likely to give the Russian generals in charge of planning a lot of trouble. Until now, the Russian military did not rely on troop maneuvers, but rather used the tactics of the first two world wars, completely destroyed, using massive artillery barrages, the localities defended by the Ukrainians, after which they conquered them with losses very big.

Even though Ukraine fires ten times fewer projectiles, has no long-range missiles, and has switched to front-line defense, Ukrainian front-line battalions appear to have the will and the means to repel Russian attacks, even those with armored.

Next week, the House of Representatives of the US Congress will vote on the $61 billion aid to Ukraine, according to the statement of the president of this house, Republican Mike Johnson, after a discussion with President Zelenski. Unblocking American aid would give a technical and ammunition boost to Ukraine’s army and help it resist Russian aggression.

In 2022, Russia launched the aggression against Ukraine with 250,000 troops, in five directions, but had to go on the defensive after less than two months and begin withdrawal. This time, Russia has around 450,000 troops in Ukraine and will focus its offensive in one direction, most likely in the Donetsk region, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War.