The Russian military has destroyed another M1 Abrams tank sent to Ukraine by the US in Russia’s Donbass, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. It is the third vehicle of the type to be knocked out by Russia in recent days.
In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said the Abrams had been taken out during a fight near the city of Avdeevka, which was recently liberated by Russian troops.
The tank “was knocked out in one shot by the crew of a T-72 B3,” officials said. They added that Kiev had also lost 460 service members, as well as another tank, four infantry fighting vehicles, two armored and five ordinary vehicles, and a Buk mobile air defense missile system in the area.
Footage of the duel between the Russian and US-made tank was shared by RIA Novosti. It shows the destroyed Abrams in a rural landscape. It also includes video which apparently was shot from the T-72 showing it firing at the enemy armor, which then explodes.
The first sighting of an Abrams tank on the Donbass front came in late February. This was months after US officials said in October that all 31 tanks promised to Ukraine in early 2023 had arrived in the country.
Shortly after the first Abrams were spotted near Avdeevka, the Russian Defense Ministry said that two of them had been destroyed in two separate engagements. The first was said to have been taken out by a kamikaze drone and anti-tank grenade launcher, while the second was reportedly first immobilized by an anti-tank projectile and then finished off by an assault squad.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov charged on Wednesday that Washington was essentially “waging war” against Russia with US-made tanks roaming its territory. He added that this would only last for a while, however, and that soon “those tanks will burn.”
Peskov also said he was certain that if Ukraine receives US-made F-16 fighter jets, which are widely expected to arrive later this year, the Russian armed forces would destroy them as well.
“I have no doubt that our valiant military will also make sure that these aircraft crash and burn,” he said.