Incredible video footage shared on social media recently shows how Ukrainian forces are becoming increasingly effective at targeting Russian military vehicles and positions with artillery, taking out a tank in just one shot.
The footage, reportedly recorded in Luhansk Oblast, was recorded from a rotary-blade unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and shows a huge amount of damage done to a residential town. Buildings to the right of the country road, where the fighting takes place, can be seen in a state of total disrepair.
Agricultural fields to the left of the road can also be seen with dozens of huge craters in the ground, suggesting that the town was subject to a significant amount of artillery strikes.
Beside the destroyed homes, a Ukrainian T-64BV tank can be seen facing a Russian T-72B tank. The two military vehicles are fairly close to one another, and after the Ukrainian tank drives closer to the Russian vehicle it fires at the Russian tank and takes it out in a single shot.
The footage then shows the Russian tank completely destroyed and on fire, producing large plumes of smoke.
The Ukrainian tank then fires once again, ensuring that the Russian tank is completely disabled.
Other tanks, possibly disabled, can also be seen left on the road, and when the video footage pans at the end, a part of town that has been affected less by the fighting can be seen.
The video footage was shared on Twitter by Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular war-tracking Twitter account that shares photographs, videos, and reports largely taken from Ukrainian and Russian Telegram accounts.
“Rare footage of tank-on-tank combat from Novoselivske, #Luhansk Oblast: A Ukrainian T-64BV of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade destroyed a Russian T-72B-series tank with a single shot,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.”
Modernized Battle Tank
In February, just before the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Armored Plant announced that it was testing a modernized version of the T-84BV main battle tank.
The new tank, which builds on the T-64B tank that was originally deployed in the 1960s, comes with new surveillance and sighting systems, as well as upgraded armor protections and new rubber shields.
Herman Smetanin, the director of the Kharkiv plant, said that the 2022 model also receives new radio systems and improved navigation.
“Among others, from now on, this combat vehicle has navigation, internal and external communication systems which fully meets NATO standards,” Smetanin said.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor.
