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Video Shows a a Russian Howitzer Completely Destroyed in Ukraine

Ukraine

More video from Ukraine: Video footage shared online this week shows a Russian 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm self-propelled howitzer left in the middle of a Ukrainian road. The howitzer is completely obliterated and non-functioning, and appears to have been struck by a Ukrainian rocket.

Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular English-language Twitter account that monitors the war in Ukraine, shared the video and suggested that the destroyed vehicle was likely somewhere in Ukraine’s east.

The footage was then re-uploaded by Twitter user Dariusz Zawadzki, who specializes in enhancing images from war and using artificial intelligence to reveal additional details from videos and photographs.

“RUS 2S3 Akatsiya 152 – Artificial intelligence upscaled 150% + dehalo + compression reverse + injection 30 to 60 FPS + 200% Slow Mo,” Zawadzki said in a post accompanying the enhanced video.

By slowing the video down, more detail is visible as the vehicle from which the video was recorded slows down and passes the wreckage. Debris is scattered around the destroyed howitzer, along with black ash and warped pieces of metal. The tracks are completely separated from the wheels.

Not All Tanks Are Destroyed – Some Are Reused

Russia has lost hundreds of tanks in the war in Ukraine. As of July 17, 237 T-72B3 tanks had been destroyed by Ukrainian forces, and hundreds more T-72 and 170 T-80 model tanks were also lost. Most tanks lost were from the Soviet era, making them more vulnerable to modern missiles and ammunition.

Not all tanks, however, have been destroyed – many have been captured by the Ukrainians, repaired, and redeployed onto the battlefield.

Video footage shared this month offered a rare glimpse of a captured Russian tank being transported on Ukrainian vehicles. The video footage, also shared by Ukraine Weapons Tracker, showed a damaged Russian BTR-82A APC on a transport truck on its way to be repaired and redeployed.

The truck is emblazoned with Russian “Z” symbols seen on military vehicles throughout the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In July, reports also revealed how Ukrainian forces captured Russian tanks and regained territory in the Russian-controlled city of Izyum. Photographs showed a Ukrainian tank commander using a paintbrush to erase the “Z” symbol on a T080 tank captured near the city.

“We will hit the Russians with their own tank,” Commander Oleksander Harmatko told Canada’s CBC News. “This tank came to the front to ‘work over’ our position.”

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.