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- Ukraine released a video showing an attack on a Russian armored convoy.
- The brigade said a Leopard 2 tank and other weaponry destroyed tanks and other vehicles.
- Russia has suffered major tank losses in the war, but it hasn’t stopped it from advancing.
New video footage released by Ukraine shows a Leopard 2 tank attacking a column of armored Russian vehicles.
The footage, seemingly filmed by multiple drones and shared by Ukraine’s 33rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, shows a convoy of Russian vehicles driving down a track and coming under fire, with smoke pouring out of some of the vehicles.
Drone footage then shows soldiers being fired at as they try to escape.
The crew of the Leopard tank smash a column of Russian armored vehicles to pieces. True professionals and heroes of the 33rd Brigade of Ukraine!
Russian losses in this column: 47 infantrymen, 2 tanks, 1 BTR, 3 combat armored vehicles, 1 motorcycle.https://t.co/zFsDVqOipR pic.twitter.com/WoCmUAkBj1
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) November 13, 2024
The brigade said the Leopard tank crew, assisted by artillery and drones, took out 47 soldiers, two tanks, an armored personnel carrier, three combat armored vehicles, and a motorcycle.
According to the New Voice of Ukraine, the 33rd brigade is fighting in the major hotspot of Kurakhove, in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
Business Insider was unable to verify the footage or when it was taken.
Russia has suffered major vehicle losses in Ukraine. In October, it lost 695 pieces of equipment, including 103 tanks that were destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured, according to open-source research project Oryx.
But Ukraine has also encountered problems with using its tanks, and has a notably smaller fleet, with Russia’s larger military able to use its advantage in equipment and personnel to try to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses.
A gun mount crew member of the 33rd brigade said in an update posted on the brigade’s Telegram channel this week that Russia had doubled the size of its forces and was pressing in the area where the brigade was operating.
Both Ukraine and Russia have struggled to use tanks effectively in what has become a war dominated by drones.
While tanks are designed to survive attacks, many models are not designed with attacks from above in mind — which is where even cheap drones can damage or destroy them.
Ukraine has added additional armor to its most advanced Western tanks, to try to defend them better against these kinds of attacks, as well as the heavy artillery used in the war.
A tank loader in the 33rd brigade told The New Voice of Ukraine that the Leopards are very important to their defense in Kurakhove.
The loader, nicknamed Boroda, said “I’ve heard people say tanks aren’t as crucial anymore, that artillery is more important for defense.”
“I can’t speak for the whole front,” he added, “but here, we’ve definitely been deploying more often. We’re not just hitting enemy positions from afar; we’re facing off with their armor more frequently. These close-range duels are where the Leopard really shines.”
The brigade’s spokesperson, Nazar Voytenkov, told the outlet that tank-on-tank battles involving Ukraine’s Leopards had become more frequent.
He also said Russia had not seen any significant gains in the area since February.
Even so, Russia has been slowly taking territory in Ukraine over the past weeks, despite suffering losses.
How Ukraine responds in the long run will likely depend on the actions of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized US aid to Ukraine. The US has been Ukraine’s single largest backer throughout the war, and losing its support would have a huge impact.
Some Ukrainian soldiers and outside military experts have expressed cautious optimism that Ukraine could convince Trump to continue to support it financially and that a potential change away from a slow drip of aid under President Joe Biden’s administration could be good for the country.
