A Russian vehicle stuck in an anti-tank trench outside Plekhovo.
129th Territorial Defense Brigade capture
A powerful Russian force, possibly from the 15th Pyatnashka Brigade, counterattacked the Ukrainian salient in Russia’s Kursk Oblast on or just before Sunday.
The attack, which targeted the Ukrainian-held village of Plekhovo on the southern edge of the salient, didn’t just fail—it failed in the most ironic way possible. The Russian column got stuck in anti-tank traps—a trench and a line of concrete obstacles—that the Russians had built prior to the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk in early August.
There are two main Russian-built defensive structures outside Plekhovo—the anti-tank traps and a nearby infantry trench complex. The attacking Russians were struggling to get through the anti-tank traps when the Ukrainian 129th Territorial Defense Brigade launched a wave of explosive drones.
“Our soldiers taught a lesson to the Russian occupiers and their equipment, burned dozens of armored vehicles and liquidated the enemy’s personnel,” Ukrainian war correspondent Yuriy Butusov wrote.
The Russian-made defenses that helped foil that recent Russian assault could’ve been a serious obstacle to the Ukrainian invasion—but weren’t. According to captured Russian intelligence, the defenses outside Plekhovo were garrisoned by several platoons and at least one company, altogether with potentially several hundreds troops.
But the Russian troops in Kursk were caught off guard by the surprise Ukrainian attack on Aug. 6—and couldn’t bring their significant firepower, including nearly 200 artillery pieces, to bear before the fast-moving Ukrainian mechanized troops were upon them.
So the anti-tank traps and circular infantry trenches became Ukrainian assets. And unlike the previous Russian occupants, the new occupants from the 129th Territorial Defense Brigade fully expected a counterattack—and were prepared to take advantage of the well-made defenses.
It’s credit to the Russian engineers who built the defenses outside Plekhovo that these defenses worked as advertised, and slowed an enemy assault long enough for the local defenders to deploy their best firepower. That their comrades built effective anti-tank traps is surely cold comfort to the Russian troops who ultimately got caught in the trap, however.
