[International] Ukraine’s newly formed mechanized brigade is equipped with 60-year-old vehicles．．． Russia’s predicament is no laughing matter．

david axe Last fall, just as Russian forces were beginning their latest and ongoing offensive in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Army began forming the first of 11 new brigades. These new brigades, in the 150th-160th series, will increase the Ukrainian ground forces by 10 percent. (Omitted)
But the reality is that these brigades are desperately short of modern weaponry. This could pose a serious problem when the Ukrainian military rotates troops. This is because there is a risk that the newly formed brigade, which is poorly equipped, will replace the existing brigade, which is well equipped. In fact, such brigades have recently been forced to withdraw from the line of contact for rest and replenishment after fighting nonstop for periods lasting up to a year and a half. “Where Ukraine will find sufficient mechanized equipment for these units remains a mystery,” militaryland.net, a website that tracks Ukrainian military organizational and personnel activities, wrote in October when it reported on the ground forces’ formation of the new brigades. “There is already a shortage of infantry fighting vehicles,” he added. The equipment of the 11 newly formed brigades, each estimated to be around 2,000 personnel, can be inferred from the appearance of one of them, the 154th Independent Mechanized Brigade. Photographs of the brigade training at what appears to be a NATO facility somewhere in Ukraine or in the Czech Republic provide a glimpse of the equipment it has deployed so far. The tracked BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle and the wheeled BRDM-2 reconnaissance fighting vehicle were developed by the former Soviet Union in the 1960s. The VAB wheeled armored personnel carrier was developed in France in the 1970s. The M-1117 wheeled armored security vehicle was developed in the United States in the 1990s. Most of the vehicles are older and lighter, and all of them have armour less than 33mm thick, so they are unlikely to be able to deflect anything other than machine gun bullets. It is possible that the 154th Mechanized Brigade has heavier vehicles. This is also a Soviet-made T-62 tank, dating back 60 years. Ukrainian forces have captured dozens of abandoned Russian T-62s. However, it is possible that the T-62 seen in the photo is a training model used by a local facility and is not owned by the brigade. Overall, the Russian military is still superior in terms of equipment. If the 154th Mechanized Brigade is indeed operating the T-62, that is also a worrying sign for the Ukrainian Ground Forces. Existing forces primarily operate relatively modern T-64 and T-72 tanks, or, to a much lesser extent, Challenger 2, M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks provided by Western countries. The Russian military is digging up aging T-62s from long-term storage facilities across the country to make up for the thousands of tanks it has lost on the battlefields of Ukraine. This was naturally ridiculed. But it is equally embarrassing for the Ukrainian military to be fighting with ageing T-62s. Compounding the problem is that the pace of donor deliveries of armored vehicles to Ukraine has slowed significantly since peaking before the Ukrainian military launched a counteroffensive in the summer of 2023. According to Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Shirsky, this is one of the main reasons why the new brigades are being formed without many modern vehicles. (Omitted)
It should be noted that Russia is also struggling to procure enough modern vehicles for its newly formed forces. It is not without reason that the Russian military has recently been deploying more civilian vehicles, such as motorcycles and buggies (commonly known as “golf carts”). However, despite their use of motorbikes and buggies, the Russian forces are still better equipped and generally superior in numbers. Shirsky believes the Ukrainian military can reduce Russia’s numerical superiority by “focusing on high-tech weaponry.” However, the 60-year-old BMP-1, which appears to be the workhorse of the Ukrainian Army’s newest brigades, is by no means a high-tech weapon. Available from 9:00 on Saturday, September 14th.

ウクライナ軍の新編機械化旅団、装備は60年前の車両か　ロシアを笑えぬ窮状（Forbes JAPAN） - Yahoo!ニュース

昨年秋、ちょうどロシア軍がウクライナ東部で現在まで続く直近の攻勢を始めつつあった頃、ウクライナ陸軍は計11個の新たな旅団のうち最初の旅団の編成に着手した。150～160番台のこれらの新編旅団によって

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