Tanks on the sidelines

Soldiers replacing the engine of a Leopard 2A4 tank at a repair and storage facility in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. — Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times

THE screens covering a command post wall served up live video feeds from bomber drones, a ground drone trundling down a mud path and surveillance drones scoping out a burning house – a catalogue of modern warfare.

One thing missing from the picture were the tanks that gave the 33rd Separate Mechanised Brigade’s battalion its name.