- Sputnik International, 1920, 25.02.2022
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev's forces.

US Media Reports Loss of ‘Dozens’ of Bradleys as Ukrainian Army Fusses Over Poor Winter Performance

© AFP 2023 / PETRAS MALUKASMembers of the US Army 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, unload heavy combat equipment including Bradley Fighting Vehicles at the railway station near the Rukla military base in Lithuania, file photo.
Members of the US Army 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, unload heavy combat equipment including Bradley Fighting Vehicles at the railway station near the Rukla military base in Lithuania, file photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 23.01.2024
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The US and its allies sent hundreds of armored vehicles ranging from transports to tanks to Ukraine in 2022 and 2023 in preparation for Kiev’s ill-fated summer counteroffensive, with the vehicles’ less than stellar performance against Russian forces shattering a decades-old myth of the superiority of NATO equipment to its Russian-made counterparts.
“Dozens” of Bradley Fighting Vehicles have been damaged or destroyed in the course of battles against Russian forces, with their Ukrainian operators unsatisfied with the vehicles’ performance in winter and the condition of some of the Bradleys they received from their US ‘partners.’
That’s according to a CNN report published Tuesday, which characterized the Bradley as the “tip of the spear during last year’s ill-fated Ukrainian counteroffensive.”
Playing up the tracked armored fighting vehicle’s purported capabilities in “blunting waves of Russian attacks” after the counteroffensive’s failure, the report complained that of the roughly 200 Bradleys promised to Ukraine by Washington, “dozens” have been “damaged and destroyed in battle,” with the vehicles now “in limited supply along the front.”
“Ukrainian crews, although admirers of the Bradley’s power, have also criticized its ability to weather the harsh Ukrainian winter and the state of some of the older vehicles shipped by the US,” the report added.
Heaping praise on the Bae Systems’ manufactured infantry transport and fire support vehicles, Ukrainian troops nonetheless told CNN they were outgunned by Russian forces, able to fire one artillery shell for every ten fired by Russian forces, and complaining that Ukraine simply “doesn’t have enough arms and equipment to win against Russia.”
Leopard 2 and Bradley pictured among destroyed and damaged Ukrainian vehicles. Screenshot of Russian Defense Ministry video. - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.01.2024
Analysis
Ukraine's 'Hodgepodge' of NATO Arms Proved Failure Long Before Arriving on Battlefield
Adequate replenishment to the estimated $200 billion in NATO military and economic assistance sent to Ukraine over the past two years may not be forthcoming, with House Republicans vowing to block $61 billion in additional aid unless the Biden administration makes major concessions on border policy. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has threatened to oust Speaker Mike Johnson if he backs more Ukraine aid.
Amid the deadlock in Congress, Washington has put pressure on its European allies to foot the bill in Ukraine, but the assistance pledged by the UK, France and Germany remains just a fraction of the assistance the West has already delivered to date.
In Kiev, President Zelensky faces his own crisis – the grinding parliamentary approval of a request for 500,000 additional mobilized troops as the country hangs on the brink of economic calamity (Zelensky himself recently admitted that six taxpayers are needed to pay the salary of a single trooper).
The Bradley Fighting Vehicle was developed over a 25-year period between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, designed as a do-it-all troop carrier, scout and fire support vehicle. Pentagon planners’ request that the vehicle be able to perform multiple roles required major compromises, with the Bradley capable of carrying just six troops, and its M242 25 mm automatic cannon not sufficient to pierce enemy tank armor (for that it is equipped with two side-mounted TOW anti-tank missiles). The vehicle has armor 14.5-30 mm thick, making it vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenade and improvised explosive device attacks by insurgents after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 (with about 150 Bradleys lost and over 700 damaged over the course of the war).
Destroyed Bradley infantry fighting vehicles - Sputnik International, 1920, 14.01.2024
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
Ukraine Loses Over 300 Troops, Nine Tanks and Four IFVs, Including A Bradley, in Donetsk
The vehicles’ performance in Ukraine has proven little better, with at least 34 abandoned, damaged or destroyed by mid-July of 2023, just a month into Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu estimated last month that some 50 Bradleys had been destroyed over the course of Russia’s defensive operations.
It’s unclear how much the Bradleys sent to Ukraine cost. In 2022, the Pentagon announced plans to buy parties of upgraded M2A4 models of the vehicle for $4.3 million apiece.
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