Russia-Ukraine war: Russia ‘loses 20 armoured vehicles’ as huge tank assault fails in Donetsk

Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, get ready to fire rockets towards Russian positions at the front line. Photo / AP

Russia lost up to 20 armoured vehicles in a single failed attack in Ukraine’s western Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops have claimed.

Kyiv’s forces fended off a force of 36 tanks and 12 BPM infantry fighting vehicles as part of a large mechanised assault northwest of Avdiivka on March 30, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said, citing a Ukrainian serviceman.

The huge tank charge is believed to be one of Russia’s largest mechanised assaults since the start of the war.

Aerial footage of the assault, posted on social media by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, shows a convoy of at least nine tanks and armoured vehicles advancing along a dirt road while coming under heavy fire.

“Ukrainian paratroopers from the 25th Airborne Brigade repelled a massive Russian attack near Tonenke village,” the ministry posted. “As a result, [Ukrainian] warriors destroyed four Russian tanks and two IFVs.”

Ukrainian military bloggers reported that the footage posted by the ministry captured only part of Russia’s losses, with the anonymous serviceman stating a total of 12 Russian tanks and eight armoured vehicles were destroyed during the assault.

Posting a video on Telegram, Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade claimed it was responsible for the deaths of almost 1300 Russians and the destruction of 28 vehicles — one tank and 17 armoured vehicles.

In separate footage, a soldier can be seen striking a Russian tank with a Javelin missile. “Sicheslav paratroopers destroyed an enemy tank along with its crew!” the brigade said.

Geolocated images of the site show many damaged Russian vehicles on a road northwest of Tonenke, which the ISW and UK Ministry of Defence consider likely to have been captured by Moscow’s forces.

The settlement is about 13km west of Avdiivka, which was seized by Russia in February in its most significant territorial advance since the capture of Bakhmut in May.

Russian forces have not carried out a mechanised assault of the scale seen over the weekend since the beginning of Moscow’s attempts to capture Avdiivka in late October, the ISW reported.

Then, Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed almost 50 Russian tanks and more than 100 armoured vehicles during two days.

The ISW said the extent of the latest attack, carried out by Russia’s sixth tank regiment, indicated Russian command “may be prioritising” the Avdiivka region as the site of a spring offensive.

It came as a huge fire broke out at one of Russia’s largest heavy machinery factories, in Yekaterinburg.

The Uralmash facility produces equipment for mining, metalwork, the cement industry and energy facilities including nuclear power plants.

The blaze caused the roof of a 300sq m workshop to collapse, while a team of 64 firefighters took an hour to put it out, Russian media reported.

Elsewhere, local authorities in eastern Ukraine reported a car bomb in Russian-occupied Luhansk had killed a pro-Kremlin official.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened an inquiry into a “terrorist act”, while Valery Chaika, a Luhansk official, has been named as the victim.