The village of Rabotino in Zaporizhzhia province was one of the furthest Ukrainian army positions advanced during last year’s large-scale counteroffensive. When the counteroffensive failed, the three Ukrainian brigades defending Rabotino faced repeated attacks from Russian forces from October 2023.

The 41st Independent Infantry Brigade of Ukraine released a video on March 16 showing it using a suicide drone to attack Russian forces in Rabotino. This is the first evidence that Ukraine has deployed the brigade to reinforce the defense forces that have been exhausted and suffered many casualties in the strategic village.

Little is known about Ukraine’s 141st Brigade, which appears to have been formed shortly after their counteroffensive began in June 2023. The brigade, which may consist of six infantry battalions of several hundred soldiers each, appears to have spent the summer and fall of last year training.

"The 141st Brigade has come to reinforce Rabotino at a crucial time," Forbes editor David Axe said. "Ukrainian forces continue to hold out in Rabotino despite the village being reduced to rubble, repelling near-daily Russian attacks."

However, Ukrainian units in Rabotino are running out of manpower and weapons. The Ukrainian 47th Motorized Infantry Brigade, which had been tasked with holding Rabotino, was ordered to reinforce Avdeevka and is now fighting in the nearby area after Russia took control of the stronghold in Donetsk province.

The Ukrainian 65th and 82nd Mechanized Brigades continued to hold Rabotino after the 47th Brigade left. The two units fought continuously for nine months. As spring came and the ground became muddier, the 82nd Brigade’s sole tank company struggled to keep its 71-ton Challenger 2s from getting stuck in the mud.

Ukrainian soldiers complain that Challenger 2 tanks are heavy and difficult to maintain.

The Ukrainian 141st Brigade does not appear to have brought tanks to Rabotino. The unit may lack supporting forces such as artillery, engineers, and armor.

"The lack of heavy combat vehicles is a reminder that after heavy losses in the counteroffensive, Ukraine struggled to evenly distribute tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and artillery across all brigades," Axe said.

However, the Ukrainian army's most pressing problem is not a lack of tanks, armor and artillery, but a lack of soldiers. "The fundamental problem of everything is the lack of manpower," admitted the commander of a Ukrainian battalion.

“Ukraine could be short dozens of brigades,” Axe said. “The 141st is one of three infantry brigades created last summer. At the same time, they also created five mechanized brigades, but none of them seem to be combat-ready.”

The 141st Brigade and its counterparts can reinforce Ukrainian defenses in some areas. However, their size is not enough to completely replace the tired and exhausted Ukrainian brigades after the failed counteroffensive.

“Those units will have to stay on the front lines until Ukrainian authorities can pass legislation to mobilize hundreds of thousands of new troops,” Axe said.

Nguyen Tien (According to AFP, Reuters )