An attempt by the Ukrainian army’s 47th Assault Brigade and 33rd Mechanized Brigade to cross a minefield in southern Ukraine on June 8 was even more disastrous than we knew.

Analysts recently have tallied even more wrecked and abandoned 47th Brigade M-2 infantry fighting vehicles. At the same time, a Ukrainian photographer on or before Saturday got close enough to the site of the failed assault to snap photos of the Russian minefield that trapped the Ukrainian battlegroup, ultimately destroying dozens of 47th and 33rd Brigades’ best Western-made vehicles and killing or wounding many Ukrainians.

Russian scouts spotted the 47th-33rd Brigade battlegroup approaching Robotyne on June 8 and called in Kamov attack helicopters that plucked at the Ukrainian column with anti-tank missiles. But it was the mines that did in the 33rd and 47th Brigades.

The 47th Brigade’s ex-Finnish Leopard 2R mineclearing vehicles led the way, assisted by at least one German-made Wisent mineclearer possibly belonging to the 33rd Brigade.

But the British-made plows on the Leopard 2Rs and Wisent clearly missed more than a few mines. Three Leopard 2Rs and a Wisent struck mines, as did several M-2s. Trapped and under fire, the battlegroup fell apart. Crews bailed out of their disabled vehicles, dragging their dead and wounded with them. A rescue force riding in M-2s scooped up many of the survivors.

The smoke cleared to reveal no fewer than 25 wrecked Ukrainian vehicles: 17 M-2s, four Leopard 2A6 tanks, three Leopard 2Rs and one Wisent. To outside observers, the losses initially seemed lighter. But over the next two weeks, analysts scrutinized drone videos and snapshots from the ground and steadily added to the list.

In a bloody hour or two, the 47th-33rd Brigade battlegroup lost nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s M-2s, a fifth of its Leopard 2A6s and half its Leopard 2Rs. The United States promptly pledged more than enough extra M-2s to make good the June 8 losses, but Ukraine’s European allies have yet to pony up more Leopard 2A6s. And there literally aren’t any more Leopard 2Rs.

Pro-ukrainian sources keep saying 'light losses' tho