The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Kyiv pulls Abrams tanks over drone attacks
US armoured vehicles now deployed as pillboxes in response to the growing threat of Russian air strikes
UKRAINE has quietly withdrawn its American Abrams tanks from the front line to avoid the growing threat from Russian drones.
The mass proliferation of drones by both Ukrainian and Russian forces has made it difficult for large armoured vehicles to move around the battlefield undetected.
“There isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection,” a senior US defence official told reporters.
Five of the 31 tanks, which cost $10 million (£8 million) each, have already been lost to Russian attacks, US officials said as they admitted they had been forced to review tactics.
With the front lines largely frozen and the ground boggy, many Western main battle tanks have been deployed as mobile pillboxes, making them susceptible to Russian attack drones.
Adml Chris Grady, the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that Ukraine had pulled back its remaining Abrams tanks from the front line in an interview with Associated Press.
“When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armour in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk,” he said.
“Now, there is a way to do it,” he added. “We’ll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately.”
The Abrams tanks were sent to Ukraine amid major fanfare after tortuous negotiations between allies. British Challenger 2s and German-made Leopard 2s have also been lost or damaged. responsible for the drone strike that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, including three Brits, a month ago. The senior officers responsible have since been dismissed.
Another possible indicator of impending action came with a reported meeting between Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s intelligence chief, Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, and Lt Gen Herzi Halevi IDF Chief of Staff on
Wednesday morning.
Ukrainian tank crews will probably use the withdrawal to modify their machines to offer better protection from the network of drones buzzing above the battlefield.
Tanks have been spotted in Ukraine
Cairo has long warned that any military action should not push Gazans over the border.
Despite the risks, the IDF is keen to promote the idea that an attack on Rafah is imminent.
“Hamas was hit hard in the northern sector. It was also hit hard in the centre of the Strip. And soon it will be hit hard in Rafah, too,” said Brig Gen Itzik Cohen of the 162 Division.
“Rafah will not be the Rafah of today. There won’t be munitions there. And there won’t be hostages there.”
Most Western governments expect the assault to go ahead, but questions remain about the viability of the IDF’s stated aims.
“An Israeli attack [on Rafah] will succeed in killing some Hamas fighters, it will succeed in destroying some Hamas infrastructure, including tunnels and it will put part of the movement’s armed wing under pressure,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“My assessment is that Hamas in Gaza will survive the Rafah operation. It has been a long time coming and the military wing will have been preparing with rudimentary guard rails and nets around them to block suicide drones from striking the main part of the vehicle. Russia has recently built corrugated “shells” around some vehicles, which have subsequently been nicknamed “turtle tanks”.
The withdrawal of the Abrams tanks will allow Ukraine to reintroduce its repaired and refitted Soviet-era tanks damaged at the start of the war.
Western main battle tanks are best when they are rapidly advancing in shock-and-awe raids, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British military tank commander, said.
“Tanks are all about shock action, which is using its mobility and firepower to move around the battlefield very quickly and strike where needed,” he said.
But over the winter months, when the ground is too wet to move heavy armoured vehicles across quickly, Ukraine has deployed its tanks as “pillboxes” to offer protection across the front lines. for this… to a certain extent, they will be able to regroup in the central part of Gaza and the north.”
That could bode poorly for the Netanyahu government, he said: “If at the end of things they haven’t brought home the hostages and haven’t vanquished Hamas, then I think there will be a huge political crisis.”
That is likely why Israel is persisting with ceasefire talks despite a lack of progress for several months.
Some have interpreted the mounting military noise as a means to force Hamas’s hand.
Brig Gen (Res.) Assaf Orion, a former IDF head of strategy and a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said one of the gains of an assault on Rafah other than finishing off Hamas was “pressure on the hostage negotiations”.
A high-level Egyptian delegation led by Mr Kamel arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday to try to break the deadlock.
Israel’s war cabinet has reportedly agreed to soften its approach by reducing the required number of hostages to be released in the first phase from 40 to 20, so long as all of them are either women, children, ‘There isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection’ ‘If [Israel] hasn’t brought home the hostages nor vanquished Hamas, there will be a huge political crisis’
The static front lines, with little progress made by either the Ukrainians or Russians, have made it virtually impossible to use tanks to their full potential.
“The Abrams and Challenger 2 are much better protected than Russian tanks but when they are static, that becomes a problem, and they’re highly prized assets,” he added on the threat of Russian drones.
Most of the drones deployed over the battlefield are modified to drop rocket-propelled grenades on targets.
These are not normally strong enough to defeat a Western tank’s armour but they are capable of finding weak spots at the top of the machines.
Most tanks feature a 60 per cent armour coverage, which is designed to protect them from head-on threats. The protective systems were devised at a time when drone warfare was not as prevalent.
Makeshift metal cages, known as cope cages, have been bolted to tanks by both Russia and Ukraine to protect them more. elderly or wounded, according to Channel 12 news.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, is also expected in Israel next week to discuss Rafah, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan.
Those discussions may be difficult. While the US previously supported an Israeli attack, its attitude has hardened in recent weeks.
“We don’t think there’s any effective way to evacuate 1.4 million Palestinians. There’s no way to conduct an operation in Rafah that would not lead to inordinate civilian harm and severely hamper the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” said Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, on Monday.
While the flow of food into the area has improved, Nyka Alexander, part of the WHO’s health emergencies division, said conditions in Rafah were still poor, citing a lack of nutritious food, lice, extreme heat and foodborne viruses, including hepatitis.
“There are just so many difficulties that people here face,” she said. “I was at a shelter yesterday, a shelter for 50,000 people. There are 44 toilets. So you do the maths.”