The Russian military has published a video that it claims shows a successful attack against a US-made armored personal carrier used by Ukrainian forces.
The footage was reportedly filmed near the Donbass town of Svatovo. It includes the moment a 9K111 Fagot anti-tank missile was launched by Russian forces, followed by apparent drone confirmation of the hit on an American-made M113. The vehicle operated by Ukrainian troops was badly damaged and could not be identified by the video alone.
The Defense Ministry said that in addition to the M113, a Ukrainian fixed position was hit in the same operation.
The 9K111 Fagot is among the older and simpler weapons in the Russian arsenal, and has been in service since the 1970s. It uses wire-guided rockets fired from their tube containers mounted on a man-portable launch post, similar to the American BGM-71 TOW system.
The gunner needs to keep sight of the target until the projectile reaches it. This can become a test of resolve if the enemy spots the attack in time to fire back, a Russian military instructor explained in another video published earlier this week.
The standard Fagot missile has a range of 2,000 meters and travels about 200 meters per second, which can make the window of opportunity relatively long. An anti-tank crew usually changes position after every launch.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry showed experimental use of a heavy drone with what appeared to be a Fagot tube mounted at its top. The weapon was fired from both land and air, but apparently was not guided during the tests.