The Russian military has hit another US-supplied M1 Abrams tank operated by Ukrainian forces, according to a regional official who shared footage of the strike. The Defense Ministry in Moscow has confirmed the destruction of a tank of this type, but did not provide details.
The American-made tank was taken out of action by a kamikaze drone, Sergey Lezhnev, an adviser to the governor of Russia’s Orel Region, claimed on his Telegram channel.
The strike happened near the village of Berdychi in the Yasinovatsky district of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), in an offensive conducted by the Central Group of Forces, he added.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow also said the Russian military had improved its frontline positions and repulsed seven Ukrainian army attacks in the Avdeevka area in Donbass. Kiev’s forces lost 95 personnel, three tanks, including a US-made Abrams, two infantry fighting vehicles, nine motor vehicles, two US-manufactured M777 howitzers, and two D-30 artillery guns, the ministry reported.
US-made Abrams tanks made their long-expected appearance on the front line in late February amid the Ukrainian effort to halt advancing Russian troops after the fall of Avdeevka. A batch of 31 M1 Abrams tanks was pledged to Kiev by Washington early last year, ahead of the ultimately disastrous Ukrainian counteroffensive. The delivery was made in full only by mid-October, when the botched push had already largely been exhausted.