Thread by @MacWBishop

Recently spent time in the field with Ukrainian marines.

My latest story for @RollingStone is here:

rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

The marines shared with me a handful of photos and video clips illustrative of several interesting details, which I will include in this thread along with materials previously declassified by Ukraine's Defense Ministry, from a specific battle in question.

Several days ago, the marines ambushed an armored thrust made by a BTG attached to a tank regiment. I saw evidence of at least seven BTR-80s, eight BMP-3s, two T-72s and a T-90 tank destroyed or captured – more than half of the attacking enemy vehicles, the Ukrainians said.

Abandoned or minimally damaged Russian vehicles were taken by the marines, to be returned to combat after repair and refit.

The limiting factor, one officer said, is that at this point they have more captured equipment than trained personnel to operate it.

For example, while the BMP-3 requires relatively little training for a driver (“It has an automatic transmission, just like driving a Mercedes,” the officer said)...

The BMP-3 has a turret-mounted 100mm main gun and a 30mm autocannon. Effectively employing these weapon systems from an armored mobile platform requires training and time.

Availability of munitions also limits the usability of the marines' pirated BMPs.

While ammo for the 30mm is plentiful, rounds for the 100mm Sa70 cannon are in shorter supply, and Ukrainian forces rely largely on what they capture from the Russians.

They’ve learned from the enemy’s example the dangers of using inexperienced crews in armored assaults. The crew of one Russian BMP was three lieutenants, none from combat arms (one was a metrologist). This is... a non-standard BMP crew.

I have blurred faces, names & birthdates.

In my story for @RollingStone, a marine captain is quoted talking about how the Russians brought dress uniforms in their vehicles:

“They actually thought they were gonna get a parade."

Here is that photo.

One of the many tactical vulnerabilities of the Russian BTGs as currently employed – that the Ukrainians exploit to great effect – is a lack of infantry moving in tandem with the armor.

The Russians prep the battlefield with artillery and then rush forward with their vehicles.

Ukrainian infantry and anti-armor crews have a field day with exposed armor, moving through terrain that they know well.

This detail is shared because it encapsulates a belief shared by many Ukrainian military personnel: the Kremlin simply has no plan to achieve victory – Moscow’s leaders are out of ideas, except a war of grinding attrition.

Endless slaughter.

The marines I met are exhausted. But they’ll never stop fighting.

The Kremlin’s leaders will march their soldiers to their deaths with a seemingly unending appetite for destruction.

And a generation of lives in Ukraine and Russia are upended and destroyed.

For nothing.