 Great battle in Volodar, Russia has lost 130 tanks. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, the biggest tank battle took place near Volodar. New York Times newspaper reported on this. The newspaper writes, tanks have loomed over the conflict in Ukraine in recent months, military and diplomatically, as both sides prepared for offensives. Russia pulled reserves of tanks from Cold War-era storage, and Ukraine prodded Western governments to supply American Abrams and German Leopard 2 tanks. The sophisticated Western tanks are expected on the battlefield in the next several months. The new Russian armour turned up earlier and, in its first wide-scale deployment, was decimated. A three-week battle on a plane near the coal mining town of Volodar in southern Ukraine produced what Ukrainian officials say was the biggest tank battle of the war so far and a stinging setback for the Russians. According to the newspaper, in the extended battle, both sides sent tanks into the fray, rumbling over dirt roads and manoeuvring around tree lines, with the Russians thrusting forward in the columns and the Ukrainians manoeuvring defensively, firing from a distance or from hiding places as Russian columns came into their sights. When it was over, not only had Russia failed to capture Volodar, but it also had made the same mistake that cost Moscow hundreds of tanks earlier in the war, advancing columns into ambushes. Blown up on mines, hit with artillery or obliterated by anti-tank missiles, the charred hulks of Russian armoured vehicles now litter farm fields all about Volodar, according to Ukrainian military drone footage. Ukraine's military said Russia had lost at least 130 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in the battle. That figure could not be independently verified. Ukraine does not disclose how many weapons it loses. Lack of expertise also bedeviled the Russians. Many of their most elite units had been left in shambles from earlier fighting. Their spots were filled with newly conscripted soldiers unschooled in Ukraine's tactics for ambushing columns. In one indication that Russia is running short of experienced tank commanders, Ukrainian soldiers said they captured a medic who had been resigned to operate a tank. Ambushes have been Ukraine's signature tactic against Russian armoured columns since the early days of the war. Ukraine's military said Russia is running short of experienced tanks and armoured vehicles now litter farm fields all about Volodar.