A Ukrainian Javelin Team Destroyed 7 Russian Vehicles In 2 Days

In dozens of aid packages over the 35 months—and counting—of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, the administration of former U.S. Pres. Joe Biden supplied the Ukrainian military with more than 10,000 Javelin anti-tank guided missiles, or ATGMs.

The $200,000, shoulder-fired missile, guided by an infrared seeker over a distance farther than two miles, packs a 20-pound warhead that can destroy or at least immobilize any tank. Ukrainian stocks of Javelins peaked in 2022, according to one Russian blogger.

But “they still have enough,” the blogger added—and the missiles are proving to be a major obstacle to the Russian effort to eject Ukrainian forces from the 250 square miles they occupy in western Russia’s Kursk Oblast.

The 60,000-strong Russian-North Korean force in Kursk tends to attack on foot owing to a growing shortage of modern armored vehicles. But when it does mount a mechanized assault, Ukrainian missile teams armed with Javelins are waiting just past the outermost lines of mines and tiny explosive drones. “At the front line, our tanks are targeted by ATGMs,” the blogger complained.

“As a result, our tanks can only operate from concealed positions,” the blogger explained. That is, they’re all but useless in their intended role: closing with and directly firing on the enemy.

The Ukrainian air assault brigades’ Javelin teams might be the most notoriously bloodthirsty missileers in Kyiv’s 800,000-strong military. But in Kursk, the missile shooters also include marine and special operations units.

In the span of two days recently, a single Javelin team from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade destroyed three enemy tanks and four BMD-4 fighting vehicles in Kursk, according to the defense ministry in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian national guard’s 5th Special Forces Regiment has been firing Javelins at night. “Even under the cover of night, Russian occupiers cannot hide,” commented WarTranslated, an Estonian analyst.

The Russians have their own anti-tank missiles in Kursk—and plenty of them. “The only area where we are relatively adequate is with ATGMs,” the blogger reported. But with only a few exceptions, the Ukrainians have been on the defensive in Kursk since August. Their vehicles don’t have to break cover, approach the front line and expose themselves to Russian missiles.

So it’s the Russians whose few surviving armored vehicles are disproportionately getting wrecked by mines, drones … and Javelins.

It may not last. Unless and until new U.S. Pres. Donald Trump sends more Javelins, the 10,000 missiles Biden gave Ukraine will eventually run out. But that’s surely cold comfort to the Russian tank crews who are getting blasted now.