A video shared on social media on Thursday highlighted the skills of the Ukrainian military’s drone operators.
Though just 20-seconds in length, the clip – posted to Twitter by Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) captured the moment an F-1 fragmentation grenade “finished off” a Russian T-80BV main battle tank (MBT) in Eastern Ukraine.
According to the post, the tank had been damaged during a recent Russian attack and was abandoned by its crew. Rather than let the tank be recovered by the Kremlin’s forces, a unit of the Ukrainian Army’s 25th Airborne Brigade utilized a commercial off-the-shelf drone, which hovered over the MBT while the grenade was dropped into an open hatch on the turret. Within seconds smoke can be seen billowing out of the hatches and the video ends as the tank is engulfed in flames.
Commentators on social media also suggested that when the war is finished, some of these drone operators should consider a career in golf or other jobs that requires such precision and focus!
The destruction of the Russian T-80BV comes days after another tank of the same model in Ukrainian service was destroyed in recent fighting.
That captured T-80BV, nicknamed “Bunny,” had made the rounds on social media over the past year as its exploits were well chronicled.
By contrast, this Russian MBT is now just another rusting hulk in what has become a graveyard of armor.
The Fighting 25th
The drone operators were members of the 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade, an airborne formation of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces. It is the only unit in active service with the Ukrainian military that was trained to conduct airborne operations where their soldiers can be dropped by parachute with their armored vehicles from Il-76MD and An-70 aircraft.
On the ground, the troops operate with BMD-1 and BMD-2 airborne infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).
The 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade is also among one of the currently active Ukrainian units that can trace its history back to the Soviet era.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the 98th Guards Airborne Division was split between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and in the spring of 1993, the former Soviet 217th Guards Airborne Regiment was relocated to Ivanovo in Russia, while by order of the Minister of Defence of Ukraine, the new Ukrainian airmobile brigade based on the elements of the Soviet 217th Guards Airborne Regiment was formed in Bolgrad. In August 2021, to mark the 30th Independence Day of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky officially renamed.
Its current motto is “No One But Us!”
#Ukraine: A Russian T-80BV tank, damaged during an attempted attack, was finished off by an F-1 grenade dropped directly into the gunner's hatch from a drone of the 25th Airborne Brigade. pic.twitter.com/dc92BoKSQP
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) April 13, 2023
In recent months, the unit has been deployed to the Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts, where it has taken part in a number of combat operations against Kremlin forces. Last August, the 25th Separate Airborne Sicheslav Brigade was credited with shooting down 29 air targets, including 15 aircraft, seven helicopters, and seven UAVs. The unit also continues to destroy Russian armor on the ground – as the recent video noted!
Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
