Where Moscow’s troops learned from mistakes

Berlin At the end of February, the Russian army repeated a mistake from an earlier phase of the war: in its attempt to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Wuhledar, the Russian commanders directed their T-64 tanks directly into a Ukrainian ambush, as they had in their attack on the capital Kiev.

Minefields that the Russians had already cleared were rerouted through Ukraine at night using cluster munitions. The moment chaos broke out, Ukrainian artillery and anti-tank teams opened fire. The exact course of the tank battle around Wuhledar was traced in detail by the “New York Times”, among others. At least 130 destroyed Russian tanks and armored vehicles ended up stuck in the Ukrainian mud.

Incidents like the one in Wuhledar have repeatedly exposed Russia’s tactical and strategic weaknesses in this war. For Western observers, the perception of a decimated, poorly trained troop equipped with mediocre equipment was partially solidified.