Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives finally passed an aid bill of more than $60 billion, and the slogan "Ukraine wants to win again" appeared on the Internet.
In fact, a similar phenomenon occurred more than a year ago.
At that time, the West decided to support Ukraine's Western-style heavy weapons, and helped the Ukrainian army form 9 NATO brigades, including M1A2 tanks (later replaced with M1A1), Leopard 2A4/A6 tanks, Challenger 2 tanks, as well as Strv-122 (Leopard 2A5 modification) tanks, and AMX-10RC as "wheeled tanks".
In addition, it is equipped with M2A2 infantry vehicles, CV90 infantry vehicles, weasel infantry vehicles, Stryker armored vehicles and various self-propelled guns.
Therefore, at that time, many netizens praised the Western-style main battle equipment and Western-style brigades, believing that once the Western-style troops of the Ukrainian army appeared on the battlefield of the major counteroffensive, they would definitely beat the Russian army to the ground.
Even "crispy goods" like the AMX-10RC were blown into artifacts at the time, as if this thing could sweep thousands of armies as soon as it came on the field.
As a result, the "big counteroffensive" that began in early June 2023 ended in a gloomy end after a vigorous fight for more than half a year; especially in the Kuban direction, where the NATO brigade is most concentrated, only one village was defeated in a bloody battle for half a year;
After the end of the major counteroffensive, because of the tactical offensive of the Russian army, the Ukrainian army was forced to move NATO troops everywhere to act as a "fire brigade".
Therefore, it is not surprising that NATO equipment has been beaten "full of stars".
Judging from the Leopard 2 family, the Western-style tank that the Ukrainian army has put into battle the most, its wreckage can be found in the Kuban battlefield in Zaporozhye, the southern battlefield of Avadiivka and Maryinka in Donetsk, and the Kupyansk to Redman line on the northern front.
But the Leopard 2 guy is too heavy, and the battle damage location is generally located in the forward zone, so it is really difficult to recover.
In mid-March, the troops of the Russian army's western cluster in Ternidon dispatched two BREM-1 armored rescue vehicles to "two-to-one" in an attempt to get away a Strv-122 (Leopard 2A5 modification) tank that was damaged in the battle.
In fact, this tank is already in the area controlled by the Russian army, but it is not far from the battle line, and the Russian army here is also big-hearted, towing in broad daylight, and has not particularly strengthened countermeasures against Ukrainian drones.
As a result, under the strike of the UAVs of the Azov Brigade of the Ukrainian army, 2 BREM-1 armored rescue vehicles were hit one after another, and the "special trailer operation" failed.
Later, although the Russian army managed to recover the armored rescue vehicle, the Strv-122 (Leopard 2A5 modification) was still not towed.
The recent battlefield video shows that in the central cluster of the Russian army in the direction of Avadiivka, a Leopard 2A6 tank was successfully towed, which is the first Leopard 2 series tank successfully captured and towed away by the Russian army after the start of the war, and it is also the A6 version (the Ukrainian army has only 21 in total), which can be said to be a great achievement and very symbolic.
And the Leopard 2A6 towed away here still has a story.
Its subordinate unit belongs to the famous "No. 1 Brigade of the Heavenly Soldiers" of the Ukrainian Army - the 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade.
This brigade was originally supposed to be a U.S. heavy brigade, but because the M1A1 tanks were not in place before the battle, the Ukrainian army allocated the only Leopard 2A6 tank battalion to it.
Because there are only 21 Leopard 2A6s in total, it can only be a simple battalion, and on the Kuban South battlefield, this simple battalion is basically a simple company.
After the battlefield in Avadiivka became tight in October 2023, the 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade was reinforced here.
Because of the underestimation of the combat effectiveness of the Don Army, the 47th Brigade launched a mechanized charge as soon as it arrived, and as a result, it lost 1 Leopard 2A6 and more than 10 M2A2 infantry vehicles in the area of the railway line north of Acheng.
Because of the complexity of the battlefield, the Ukrainian army itself failed to tow away the Leopard 2A6, and because the brigade always lost its vehicles, it simply did not dare to use the Leopard 2A6 later.
Later, the establishment of the Ukrainian army was adjusted, and the only few remaining Leopard 2A6s of the 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade were transferred to the 21st Mechanized Infantry Brigade on the northern front, which was combined with the Strv-122 (Leopard 2A5 modification) of the brigade;
The 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade received the American M1A1 tank battalion in place.
Therefore, the Ukrainian army actually has a Leopard 2A6 battle loss that can be confirmed in Avadiivka, a total of just such a one.
From October 2023 to April 2024, it lay in the area of the railway line for half a year, during which it experienced the baptism of artillery fire of the Russian and Ukrainian armies, and was also devastated by wind and snow.
From the initial comparison of the materials taken by the Russian army when they clocked in to the current state of the trailer, the state of this Leopard 2A6 is already very poor.
Of course, the Ukrainian army did not want to give it to the Russian army in vain, and also tried to recapture the position, but failed to succeed, and the Russian army's attack to the west was also very difficult, so there was no tow for a long time without a safe depth.
Now the Russian army in this direction has hit a depth of several kilometers, and it is not easy to successfully tow the first Leopard 2A6 away.
But this tank is not a loss, because it is the first Ukrainian Leopard 2 tank that can successfully "drive" into Moscow.
In fact, in the area where the Russian army captured and towed away the Leopard 2A6 tank, the first M2A2 infantry combat vehicle that was obtained was actually from here.
And as the Russian army continues to advance westward, it has now captured all of the village of Stepovo and most of the village of West Bertizi, where there are still 2 M1150 assault vehicle obstacle breakers, about three or four M1A1 tanks and more M2A2 infantry tanks.
Now the M2A2 infantry combat vehicle, which is relatively easy to tow, has been towed away by the Russian army, but the first two big things have not been towed away.
If the defense line on this side is stabilized and the conditions for trailers are met, they will also be brought to Moscow for "exhibition" in the future.
And when it comes to this, I don't know if the Russian army will make a phalanx of captured equipment out of the Victory Day parade in the near future.
After all, the Russian army now has captured Leopard 2A6 tanks, in addition to M2A2 infantry tanks, CV90 infantry vehicles, weasel infantry vehicles, AMX-10RC armored reconnaissance vehicles (used as tanks), M777 howitzers, as well as M113 series armored vehicles and a vote of light vehicles.
If you succeed in dragging the M1A1 tank out recently, then the effect of the scene at that time can be much more exciting than getting a T34 antique to "nostalgia".
Of course, this is also an idea after our small talk.
Regardless of whether the Russian army will pull these captured weapons out to make a scene, but after all, they have been captured and successfully pulled away; in the future, these things will definitely appear in various exhibitions or museums after the necessary research, compared to those equipment that has completely become scrap metal in the battlefield, when these weapons really "drive" into Russia, their fate has actually led to a turning point.
Just as some people are alive, but they are dead, and some weapons are dead, but they are "reborn".