December 10–16, the russian army attempted one of the most powerful attacks in the Avdiivka operational axis, sums up his findings Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance officer, known as Kriegsforscher or @OSINTua on X (formerly Twitter).
In just one day December 12th, the russians lost nine main battle tanks. "The battle is cruel and really hard," he noted and published some photos of destroyed equipment he had taken using an aerial drone.
Read more: Over 90% of Combat Actions in the Past 24 Hours Occurred in Avdiivka and Marinka Sectors
Notable, the first one was the T-62 tank. The Ukrainian aerial scout assumed that the russians might have used it as an explosive kamikaze-type weapon. Still, in the end, the suspicious vehicle was neutralized before the conjecture could be verified.
Next, the aerial photos reveal multiple abandoned, damaged and destroyed russian combat vehicles, including tanks protected by slat armor cages: T-72B3M, T-80BV tanks, BMP-1, BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, and MT-LB, VPK-Ural armored carriers.
Besides the cruelty of battles, these photos as well showcase the amount of pressure Ukrainian troops are currently in, with their enemy sparing no equipment or manpower to capture the Ukrainian town.
For a reminder, the russian invasion army intensified its offensive in the Avdiivka region on October 10th. Since then the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed thousands of invaders and hundreds of battle vehicles there.
Earlier Defense Express also described the relatively new tactic russians were seen to deploy exceptionally often in the Avdiivka axis: deploying remote-controlled vehicles to resupply their heavily entrenched infantry units. In turn, ISW noticed how russian rhetoric has shifted toward their claimed "active defense" near Avdiivka amidst the lack of any significant progress on the offensive.
Read more: Fierce Battles are Taking Place on the Tavria Front
