The war in Ukraine sets to intensive in the months to come.
Russia is claiming to have captured Bakhmut while Kyiv disputes this.
We know one thing: social media is the place ot be to get the latest information and open-source video intelligence:
Watch Russian Tank Get Destroyed In Kharkiv – Video footage shared on social media back in late Februrary shows how some of Russia’s most modern tanks are still easily being taken out by Ukrainian artillery across Ukraine.
The video, shared on Twitter by Ukraine Weapons Tracker and similar war-tracking accounts, shows a Russian T-90M tank left completely destroyed, surrounded by battered Russian military vehicles and destroyed homes.
The video, which appears to have been recorded by a drone, shows the tank abandoned at the side of a road and engulfed in flames.
Thick black smoke can also be seen billowing from the top.
According to Ukraine Weapons Tracker, the strike occurred somewhere in Kharkiv Oblast and is the 12th known example of this particular kind of tank being destroyed or captured by Ukrainian forces.
“A Russian T-90M tank was destroyed by the Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade in #Kharkiv Oblast,” the post reads.
“This is the 12th documented example of this modern platform that has been destroyed, damaged or captured in Ukraine.”
The destruction of Russia’s T-90M tanks is significant because it is substantially more capable than most tanks deployed by the Russian military in Ukraine.
Publicly unveiled in 2017, the T-90M is an upgraded version of the T-90 that features improved armor protection, including Relikt Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA).
The armor is designed to provide effective protection against tandem warheads and armor-piercing rounds.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-90M tank was destroyed by the Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade in #Kharkiv Oblast.
This is the 12th documented example of this modern platform that has been destroyed, damaged or captured in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/wMp1bSNv3P
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 19, 2023
It also features cage armor on some parts of the tank, which provides protection against anti-tank weapons.
What We Know About the T-90M
As 19FortyFive Military Affairs Editor Kris Osborn explained in April -” The T-90 entered service in 1993, and the extent to which it has been successfully maintained and upgraded may be somewhat of a question mark.
Multiple reports reveal the tank has rather advanced countermeasures such as a “TShu-1-7-Shtora-1” optronic system to disrupt laser targeting on incoming ATGMs and an electro-optical jammer.
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You can watch the full video mentioned above here.
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.
UPDATE: This piece has been updated to fix a coding issue to ensure the video plays.
