Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked French leader Emmanuel Macron for sending light battle tanks to Kiev, and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was filmed riding one.
However, a Ukrainian commander says the highly mobile AMX-10 RC infantry fighting vehicles, sometimes described as light tanks, are “impractical” for frontline attacks, saying a four-man crew it has already died due to the vehicle’s thin armor.
kyiv declared in April that the French vehicles – designed for armed reconnaissance and attacks on enemy tanks – were already in service.
But a 34-year-old battalion commander from the 37th Marine Brigade, who uses the callsign Spartanets, said the tanks’ “thin armor” means they can be used for fire support, but not in frontline assaults.
“Unfortunately, there was a case in which the crew died in the vehicle,” the commander told AFP on Friday.
“There was an artillery barrage and a shell exploded near the vehicle, the fragments piercing the armor and the ammunition pool detonated.”
The four crew members inside were all killed, he said.
“The guns are good, the sighting devices are very good. But unfortunately, the armor is very thin and it is not practical to use them in the front line (of attack),” said Spartanets.
“There were cases where a 152mm shell exploded nearby and shrapnel penetrated the vehicle,” he said.
He added that the French AMX-10s also had gearbox breakage problems, possibly due to their use on dirt roads.
“Sending the (AMX-10) vehicles (into combat) to be destroyed, I consider impractical and unnecessary because it is, above all, a risk to the crew,” Spartanets said.
He did not specify how many AMX-10s the elite combat formation has, declining to show them to AFP reporters on the ground.
The open-source intelligence website Oryx, which tallies equipment losses based on battlefield images, has tallied three losses in Ukraine of AMX-10 RC light tanks.
Spartanets said its soldiers are gaining experience with the vehicles after receiving a month of training in France, but added that this was not enough time to master their tactical use fully.
According to the French Ministry of Defense, the AMX-10s offer protection against light infantry fire.
Their combat weight is about 20 tons, and they have wheels instead of tracks. They were developed in the 1970s, and the French armed forces have begun to replace them with more modern vehicles called Jaguar.
The battalion commander compared the French-made vehicles unfavorably to MRAP-type armored vehicles such as the American Oshkosh and British Husky, which he says can withstand a direct attack with rocket-propelled grenades.
Washington also announced in January aid to Ukraine that included 55 MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) armored vehicles. Britain sent Husky support vehicles last year.
Spartanets showed AFP two camouflage-painted Oshkosh vehicles mounted on huge wheels. One of them had minor shrapnel damage to the hood, which he described as a “weak” spot.
“Otherwise, in terms of protection, the vehicle is very good,” he said.
If one drives over a land mine, “a wheel goes off,” but the vehicle remains intact, he said. Instead, when a Soviet infantry fighting vehicle (BMP or BMD) runs over a tank mine, “it’s very sad for the crew and the vehicle,” he added.
The newly created 37th brigade has fighters located close to the Russian front line in the eastern Donetsk region.
The battalion commander said he was directly involved in the fighting around Blagodatne, a town recently retaken by Ukrainian forces.
Anna Malpas
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