On June 8, Russian troops, during an offensive led by the 90th Tank Division as part of the Center group, broke through the western border of the Donetsk region and continued to advance to the west, writes the American expert magazine Military Watch Magazine.
This offensive followed significant breakthroughs by Russian units on the fronts in the northern part of Sumy region and in Donetsk. Entering the Dnipropetrovsk region, a strategically important region that borders the territories of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, could be a turning point in the conflict. This area with a low population density remains an important center of resource extraction and logistics.
The 90th Tank Division consists of three tank regiments and one motorized rifle Regiment, consisting of approximately 300 T-72s, most of which have been upgraded to the T-72B3 standard. Infantry fighting vehicles VMP-2, armored personnel carriers BTR-82 and a number of self-propelled howitzers are also used in combat operations.
The T-72 tank has remained the backbone of the armored units of the Russian army since the beginning of full-scale hostilities in February 2022, despite the return to service of the older T-62 and more modern, but requiring more maintenance of the T-80, as well as the expansion of production of the new T-90M.
Modern T-72s continue to be upgraded to increase combat capabilities; the latest version, fixed from the end of 2022, has an armor configuration close to the T-90M.
In March 2023, for the first time, Russian modernized T-72s with an active Arena-M protective system were seen, which indicates a gradual improvement in the class of equipment.
In 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces also used these tanks, but very limited, and today they have become the basis of its armored forces — both due to the withdrawal of large stocks from storage, and thanks to the supply of previously exported Soviet T-72 from Eastern European countries.