Fleeing From Kursk, Ukraine Abandoned Some of Its Best Weapons, Lost Approx 500 Vehicles

quote:

---

The Things They Left Behind: Retreating From Kursk, The Ukrainians Abandoned Some Of Their Best Weapons.
In all, Ukraine lost around 500 vehicles and guns in Kursk.
By David Axe
Mar 13, 2025

On Feb. 25, an elite Russian drone group—the Rubicon Center of Advanced Unmanned Systems—launched a devastating wave of attacks on the main supply line supporting the Ukrainian garrison in Sudzha, the center of the Ukrainian-held salient in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

Employing what analyst Andrew Perpetua described as “advanced drone tactics” including elaborate ambushes involving multiple explosive drones “striking the front, back and sides of a vehicle almost simultaneously,” Rubicon swiftly knocked out hundreds of Ukrainian vehicles.

It was “the day you started worrying about Kursk,” Perpetua wrote. Two weeks later on Monday or Tuesday, the Ukrainian force—10,000 troops in multiple heavy brigades—slipped out of Kursk.

Starving for supplies and in danger of being cut off, the retreating Ukrainians moved quickly, apparently under the cover of darkness. Whatever heavy equipment they couldn’t take with them, they simply abandoned—effectively leaving them for the Russians to seize.

The prizes included some of the best vehicles and artillery belonging to some of Ukraine’s best brigades.
....

But their ubiquity exposes them to the full range of Russian counterbattery fire—and their importance makes them priority targets. In 37 months of hard fighting, culminating in the grinding battle in Kursk, the Ukrainians have lost at least 55 M-777s. The gun the Russians captured while retaking the oblast may be the first intact M-777 in Russian hands.

In all, the Ukrainians lost around 500 vehicles and other heavy equipment in Kursk. The Russians lost around 600.

While that might seem like a win of sorts for Ukraine, Russia can spare much more equipment than Ukraine can. Ukrainian commanders try to maintain a three-to-one loss ratio in their favor—a ratio they obviously failed to maintain in attempting, and ultimately failing, to hang on in Kursk.

LINK

---