Russian tank column is destroyed by Ukraine in video from Donbas
Double blitzing of Putin’s troops as tank column is devastated by Ukrainian artillery and separatist battalion ‘is destroyed by Russian friendly fire’
- Ukrainian artillery captured striking a Russian tank column in the Donbas
- Kyiv’s men claimed 12 tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed or damaged
- Separately, intercepted phone call revealed Russia opened fire on its own men
- Conscript battalion was wiped out after being mistaken for Ukrainian soldiers
A column of Russian tanks has been destroyed in an artillery strike by Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region, with part of the strike caught on video.
Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade said a dozen tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed or damaged in the strike, while took place last week in Luhansk province.
In a double-blow for Putin’s military, it was also claimed his soldiers mistakenly destroyed a battalion of their own conscripts after mistaking them for the enemy.
A call intercepted by Ukraine’s spies captured a conversation between a soldier serving the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and an unknown second person.
Russian tanks and armoured vehicles are hammered by Ukrainian artillery in footage captured recently in the Donbas region
Ukraine say around a dozen Russian tanks or armoured vehicles were destroyed in the barrage, which took place in the Luhansk region
In it, the soldier can be heard saying that he and his men – most of whom will have been forcibly conscripted into the armed forces by Russia – were stationed near the occupied port city of Berdyansk.
But they were suddenly redeployed to the frontlines – contrary to Putin’s claim that conscripts are not fighting the war – and ordered to attack.
After failing to receive orders, the men began to retreat when they encountered soldiers of the regular Russian army who mistook them for Ukrainians.
‘The Russians destroyed them… That’s the army, guess what,’ the man says.
He is also captured complaining that none of the conscripted men have been paid, and that food rations were meagre.
Putin’s army is now well into its fifth month of fighting in Ukraine, having prepared for a war the Russian leader expected to last just a few days.
Amid heavy losses and low morale, Russia’s generals have managed small success in the battle for Donbas in Ukraine’s east.
Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last remaining strongholds in Luhansk province, have fallen into Russia’s hands in recent weeks.
Putin’s commanders are now thought to be preparing an assault on nearby Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, which would put them in control of most of Donetsk.
However, several months of bitter street fighting has apparently exhausted the Russian military which has taken a ‘pause’ in fighting in the last few days to regroup.
Ukraine is also rearming and building new defences in the east, whilst also preparing a major offensive to re-take Kherson in the south.
Oleksii Reznikov, the Ukrainian defence minister, says President Zelensky has ordered his generals to come up with a plan for recapturing the south of the country.
Ukraine withdrew many of its forces from southern areas shortly before Russia invaded to focus on keeping the capital of Kyiv intact.
But now, after Russia failed to take the city and withdrew, Zelensky appears to be making a return to the south in greater force his priority.
Russia is pressing to capture the whole of Ukraine’s east (pictured) after Putin massively downgraded his war aims, while Ukraine counter-attacks in the south
The living room of an apartment is seen partially destroyed by shelling on a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Chasiv Yar
Reznikov told The Times that Ukraine’s armed forces is now 1million-strong, as he lobbied western leaders for more weapons to get the job done.
Kherson, a key strategic city that spans the Dnipro River and is the only regional capital to fall to Putin so-far, is the early target.
Other areas currently occupied by Russia that are likely to be high on Ukraine’s hit-list are Enerhodar – which houses the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – the port city of Berdyansk, and the city of Melitopol.
Ukraine’s long-term ambition will certainly be the re-capture of Crimea – annexed by Russia in 2014 – from Putin’s men, but the peninsula is essentially one big military base and attacking it would be extremely challenging.
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