Footage released by Ukrainian sources shows an alleged armored assault being carried out against Russian positions near Bakhmut. According to the source of the footage, the attack was being carried out against a Wagner position specifically.

I say this is an alleged armored assault because it doesn't look like an assaulting action to me. In fact, this looks more like a probing action than an assault in force. Had the Ukrainians intended to take the positions, we wouldn't be seeing infantry in fixed fighting positions behind the armor. They would be up next to the armor preparing to maneuver on the Russian forces.

What's more likely is the armor is testing a heavily defended Russian position and probing for key defensive weapon systems. They're hoping that the Wagner forces will get spooked by the armor and open up with machine guns and rockets, keying them in to specific locations to target with indirect fires in a future preparatory bombardment.

Probing assaults like this are fairly common in conventional warfare. If you can feign an attack and get your enemy to reveal the location of his most deadly defensive weapons, you can then destroy, disable, or plan an assault that removes those defensive weapons from the equation saving your own men from begin chewed up by them later down the road.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com