Ukraine is Losing US Weapons on the Battlefield

“There was a sense of ‘tech optimism,’ just because Ukrainian soldiers were so good at training on western equipment, and there was a sense they’d be able to translate that into tactical finesse,” Franz-Stefan Gady, a defense analyst with the Center for a New American Security who has made several study trips to the front in Ukraine, told The Messenger.

“Some observers overestimated the ability of Ukrainian forces to gain tactical proficiency with these platforms and gain the ability to use them in a combined arms fashion.”

The heavy equipment losses in the early weeks of the offensive have forced the Ukrainians to change tactics, focusing less on vehicle-led charges into Russian positions and more on wearing down Russian defenses with heavy artillery fire from a distance.

“The direct consequences of these losses is that it is now primarily an infantry-led fight with artillery firing on Russian positions,” Gady said. “Only on occasion do you get advances or attacks spearheaded by mechanized forces.”

Gady added that Ukraine’s battle tanks, which many anticipated would be used to lead assaults on Russian lines, are now mainly being used to provide long-range fire support.

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