Ukrainian soldiers with a Leopard 1 A5 tank at the Klietz training area in Germany on August 17, 2023.
Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/picture alliance via Getty Images
Ukraine is using Leopard tanks more like long-range artillery than attack vehicles, AFP reported.The tanks are being used defensively to hold Ukraine’s line, rather than to punch through, it said.The change has taken place over the past few weeks, the report said.
Ukraine is using the advanced Leopard tanks it received from its Western allies defensively rather than as penetrative offensive weapons, news agency Agence France-Presse reported.
The change has taken place over the past few weeks, as Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia turned into a more defensive effort of trying to hold positions against escalating attacks, the report said.
The tanks, positioned along the front lines, are now being used more like long-range artillery than attack vehicles that would lead efforts to punch through into Russia-held areas, AFP reported.
One soldier in Ukraine’s 21st Mechanised Brigade told AFP that his brigade’s tanks are “not being used in the same way as during the counteroffensive.”
He said they are now using the Strv 122 tank, a Swedish variant of the Leopard 2A5, to target infantry groups or ammunition depots.
Ukraine started its counteroffensive in June, but has not made any major breakthroughs in pushing Russian forces back and retaking territory.
Ukraine’s efforts are now expected to slow with the onset of winter conditions, and Russia has started to escalate attacks in some parts of Ukraine, including at Kupiansk and Avdiivka.
Ukraine’s allies agreed to give it Leopard tanks in January, after months of Ukrainian requests and after pressure from its smaller allies that didn’t have any of their own to give.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in August that he wanted the counteroffensive to start “much earlier” but he felt he had to wait for more Western weapons to arrive.
Waiting allowed Russia to build defenses that then “slowed down” Ukraine, he said.
Analysts previously told Business Insider that Western delays in giving Ukraine weapons likely hindered its counteroffensive efforts by giving Russia more time to prepare its defenses.
While Ukraine waited, Russia built formidable defenses and turned Ukraine into the world’s most heavily mined country.