Just a day before the video appeared depicting that Russian strike on one M-55S in northeastern Ukraine, a separate image posted to social media purportedly showing another M-55S in southern Ukraine.For over a century the tank has been a feature of the battlefield, and for most of that it has been the mainstay of land operations, a position it retains to this day. A northeastern axis.Īs if there weren’t enough uncertainty surrounding Ukraine’s 28-now 27-old M-55S tanks, there’s another wrinkle.

Most notably, the Ukrainian army has begun deploying its unique 21st Mechanized Brigade-which operates ex-Swedish CV90 fighting vehicles and Strv 122 tanks-to the sector, perhaps signaling it intends to attack along a new axis in the seven-week-old counteroffensive. There are hints of intensive fighting to come along the Kreminna sector. In order to stand up a tank company in the new 82nd Air Assault Brigade-the first and so far only Ukrainian unit with ex-British Challenger 2 tanks-the Ukrainian air assault force sent crews from the veteran the 25th and 80th Air Assault Brigades to the United Kingdom for training, and then assigned those crews and their tanks to the 82nd Brigade.īut if Ukrainian planners were trying to keep the old M-55Ss away from the heaviest fighting, they may have miscalculated. There’s ample precedent for Ukrainian brigades swapping tankers, tanks and even entire tank companies and battalions. The thinly-armored M-55Ss surely would have fared ever worse than the Leopard 2s have done. The Leopard 2A6 is one of the best-protected tanks in the Russia-Ukraine war-and the 33rd Brigade has lost several of the type in dangerous assaults across Russian minefields.

Modern army tank