We know one thing about the war in Ukriane: Putin’s unprovoked invasion has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and shows no end in sight.
Both sides continue to wage war not seen since the end of World War II – and even talk of nuclear weapons use to this day keep getting thrown around by Russian President Putin?
When will the violence stop?
Ukraine Footage Shows Tanks Firing into Russian Trenches
A video that circulated on social media in early April showed a Russian trench line being cleared by a Ukrainian T-72 main battle tank (MBT) before a friendly infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) came to mop up the remaining defenders.
The minute and seven-second long video, which was first shared on Facebook, was recorded from multiple angles by Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles – and it offers a glimpse of how Kyiv’s forces were utilizing combined arms during the recent trench clearing operation.
At the beginning of the clip, the T-72 moved slowly along the trench line firing at the defenders. The MBT was supported by the UFV, and several Ukrainian troops can be seen exiting – appearing to be ready to enter the trench as the video ends.
The Russian trench lines appeared shallow and hastily dug, at least compared to the more robust fortifications currently employed by the Ukrainians.
Assault Troops
The April operation was reported to be carried out by personnel of Ukraine’s 5th Assault Brigade, which was operating near the besieged city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast.
The unit, which was founded under the command of Colonel Pavlo Palisa last May as the 5th Assault Regiment, is reported to be closely affiliated with the Ukrainian Ground Forces 58th Motorized Brigade.
Palisa is reported to have studied at the Command and Staff College of the United States Army and returned to his native homeland to help liberate it from the Russian invaders.
Under his command, the regiment had taken in the fighting in the Battle of Bakhmut alongside Ukrainian naval infantry and Ukrainian National Guard units. It was in late February that the regiment was reformed into a brigade when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented battle flags to military units of the Armed Forces and assault brigades of the Offensive Guard.
Ukrainian forces have become increasingly brazen when it comes to assaulting Russian trenches. It was also in April that another T-72 operated by Kyiv’s forces also took part in an attack on another Russian position, firing point-blank at the defenders. In this newly posted video, it is apparent that there were supporting personnel and vehicles protecting the MBT, which led the assault, cleared out the defenses, and then left supporting infantry to make sure that additional Russians weren’t lurking and waiting for a moment to strike.
The biggest downside to such videos being shared online isn’t that it shows the successfully coordinated efforts of the 5th Assault Brigade and other Ukrainian forces, but that Russian troops could learn from those actions. Of course, to date, the Kremlin’s forces have largely failed to learn from their past mistakes and may be as unlikely to take any lessons from Ukraine’s successes.
As the video could be considered quite graphic, we have linked to it here as opposed to embedding it.
Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
