The DeepState UA, an open-source intelligence (OSINT) community, has released a report based on satellite imagery, indicating significant losses of Russian military vehicles near the village of Krasnohorivka in eastern Ukraine.
The analysis of satellite images shows more than sixty heavily damaged and destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles, primarily concentrated around the area of Krasnohorivka, west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk and near the long-contested town of Avdiivka.
Analysts noted that although assessing the precise losses in terms of personnel is challenging, it is estimated that the number of casualties among Russian forces is in the hundreds within this specific region.
Deep State UA’s report sheds light on the outcome of recent events, indicating that despite having numerical advantages, the Russian forces faced defeat on the battlefield.
This attack serves as further evidence of the limitations of a strategy focused on concentrated armor power to gain an upper hand in conflict situations. It’s apparent from the data that such tactics have proven to be ineffective in the face of growing synergy between Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance and artillery operations.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian regiments lost 55 tanks in a 24-hour period starting on Thursday. That’s a rate of loss 20 times the average in the two years of wider war.
This development highlights the increasing role played by affordable aerial reconnaissance tools and their ability to level the playing field for both sides. Until a technological breakthrough tips the scales decisively, the battle for victory continues.
About BTR-82A armored vehicles
The BTR-82A—a 17-ton, eight-wheel APC with a stabilized 7.62-millimeter machine gun and extra Kevlar armor—was meant for export. But in 2013, the Russian defense ministry ordered the vehicle for its own use for the first time.
The BTR-82A is better-protected and better-armed than older BTR-82s, BTR-80s and BTR-70s are. But that didn’t save the BTR-82As that rolled into battle outside Avdiivka, northwest of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.
They ran over mines, lost wheels or flipped over then got pummeled by artillery. In a single bloody day on Thursday, Russian regiments lost no fewer than 63 BTR-82As, most or all of them around Avdiivka and Krasnohorivka.
It was one of the worst single-day losses for any vehicle type in Russia’s 21-month wider war on Ukraine.
Perhaps more seriously, the 630 BTRs each might’ve carried 10 crew and infantry. It’s unclear how many of the crew and passengers died in their vehicles’ destructions.
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