Ukraine Scrounged Enough German Tanks and French Howitzers to Equip a New Heavy Brigade
The 155th Mechanized Brigade is in the same class as the battle-hardened 33rd and 47th Mechanized Brigades
Back in May, the Ukrainian army began forming 10 new brigades. Six months later, the heaviest of these new brigades—the 155th Mechanized—is completing its training in Poland and France.
In equipment and leadership, the brigade effectively is a back-up for a pair of older mechanized units: the 33rd and 47th Mechanized Brigades. Once the 155th is ready for action, expect it to handle many of the same tasks as the 33rd and 47th, and potentially in the same sectors of the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 31-month wider war on Ukraine.
The 155th was an infantry brigade, at first. But then the Ukrainian general staff sourced enough heavy equipment to upgrade it to a mechanized unit.
The brigade has one battalion of Leopard 2A4 tanks. A consortium of NATO countries have pledged 73 of the 55-ton, four-person tanks to Ukraine. Eleven have been lost in combat. The 33rd Mechanized Brigade owns one battalion of them, notionally with 31 vehicles. That leaves exactly enough Leopard 2A4s for the 155th Mechanized Brigade to equip a battalion. It doesn’t leave any extra tanks to replace combat losses.
That tank battalion has been training in Poland with Norwegian instructors. Meanwhile, the rest of the 155th Brigade is in eastern France training with French instructors. “I had made a commitment: our military is currently training 2,300 Ukrainian soldiers in the Grand Est, with equipment that they will use on missions,” French president Emmanuel Macron stated after visiting the Ukrainian trainees.
That equipment includes French-made Caesar howitzers. NATO countries have pledged more than 150 of the wheeled, 155-millimeter howitzers to Ukraine. Five have been destroyed in combat. The Caesar is popular and effective and quickly becoming one of Ukraine’s main self-propelled howitzers.
It’s no coincidence that the 155th Brigade’s commander, Col. Dmytro Ryumshin, previously commanded the 33rd and 47th Brigades. The 33rd still operates Leopard 2A4s. The 47th briefly operated newer Leopard 2A6s before converting to American-made M-1s.
Ryumshin is an experienced Leopard commander. But he’s also notorious for getting relieved of duty during the 47th Mechanized Brigade’s rearguard action around the eastern city of Avdiivka last winter and this spring. “Ukrainian high command questioned the brigade’s performance,” Militaryland noted.
But the Ukrainian garrison in Avdiivka was doomed at the outset of Russia’s long siege of the fortress city, which commenced a year ago at the same time Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress began blockading further U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The Republicans ultimately failed and the aid passed into law, but not until April—too late to save the ammunition-starved defenders of Avdiivka, who had retreated under fire in February.
Avdiivka wasn’t Ryumshin’s fault. And the general staff in Kyiv seems to have recognized that months later. Soon, the colonel will have a third chance to lead a Leopard-equipped brigade in battle.
The 47th Brigade recently rotated most of its battalions off the eastern front line after 15 straight months in combat. It’s possible the 155th might replace the 47th, once the new brigade completes its training.
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