The US-supplied vehicle got hit by a suicide drone into the rear of its turret, sustaining ammunition cook-off, new footage shows
New video footage showing the exact moment the first-ever Ukrainian M1 Abrams main battle tank was destroyed emerged online on Wednesday.
The US-supplied tank was knocked out earlier this week near the village of Berdychi, located to the northwest of Avdeevka, the key Donbass town recently liberated by Russian forces. The vehicle was hit by a suicide drone, the new video shows.
The kamikaze FPV drone struck the tank into the rear of its turret, apparently straight into its ammunition compartment, setting it on fire. The tank suffered a violent cook-off, emitting a large column of fire from the compartment, the video shows.
According to Russian media reports, the vehicle was subsequently hit by a projectile fired from a shoulder-mounted anti-tank grenade launcher. A close-up still from a surveillance drone video circulating online shows that the tank’s engine compartment ended up catching fire after the hit as well.
The Russian military has already officially confirmed the destruction of the first-ever vehicle of this type amid the ongoing conflict, yet has not disclosed any further details.
A batch of 31 M1 Abrams tanks was pledged by Washington to Kiev early last year, ahead of the long-heralded counteroffensive against Russian forces. The delivery, however, was made in full only by mid-October, when the botched push was already exhausted.
While the American tanks have frequented Ukrainian propaganda videos, they actually made it onto the battlefield only in the past few days as Kiev’s troops are trying to stabilize the frontline situation after the loss of Avdeevka and the chaotic rout of its defenders earlier this month.
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