Based on what I've seen Ukraine doing, Russia is forced to use tanks. Ukraine is well dug in, and has been building out concrete-bunkers for the last 8 years (

Based on what I've seen Ukraine doing, Russia is forced to use tanks. Ukraine is well dug in, and has been building out concrete-bunkers for the last 8 years (ever since Russia annexed Crimea and started to invade the Donbas region, Ukraine has been preparing). That's THICK concrete walls, well dug in sniper spots all over the place, underground networks, etc. etc. Going into those areas without any armor will just get you sniped. Furthermore, going in by foot means walking and/or running, which is really slow. -------------- So you go in with say, an APC (20mm thick armor), right? Since APCs are vehicles, they can run at 30mph to 50mph, so they're actually fast enough to go in. Well, wrong. Ukraine has 50-cal machine guns and 50-cal sniper-rifles that shreads right through that armor. So even with an armored personnel carrier, they just die. Cheaper anti-tank rounds (AT4) also blow them up no problem. Well... how about going in with an IFV? (less armor than APC, but more gun). Still the same problem, IFVs lose to that heavy machine-gun fire, and the 30mm autocannon of IFVs (BMP-2 and other such platforms) isn't big enough to punch through the concrete-bunkers the Ukrainians are hiding behind. -------- So what does Russia do? They send in the tanks. 200mm+ thick armor with advanced geometry and anti-CE protection systems (reactive armor). (A sideways shot against a tank needs 500+mm penetration to harm the tank, thanks to the "geometry" of the tank). That thick armor is immune to sniper-fire and enemy machine-guns, even large machine guns and even 30mm autocannons. And that's when the Ukrainians pull out Javelins and NLAWs and then blow up the tank (tandem-charge, blowing up the reactive armor with a "fake explosion" and then hitting the tank with a 600mm+ penetrating shot near simultaneously) But still, the tank at least has a 120mm cannon to blow up bunkers while they're on the frontlines, so the tank actually made progress against the enemy bunker.