The war in Ukraine is getting ever more intense as Kyiv’s big counteroffensive seems to be underway.
How will Putin respond? What does this mean for NATO? Could the war escalate even beyond Ukraine?
One this is pretty clear: social media will have vital clues for researchers and analysts to pour over in the coming weeks and months.
Double Whammy: Russian IFV Taken Out By Combined ATGM & Drone Strike
Dramatic video footage shared on social media back in Match shows how a Russian BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle was taken out by a double Ukrainian strike.
In the clip, the Russian military vehicle is first hit by a Ukrainian anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) strike.
The unknown ATGM appears from the right of the screen, striking the right side of the Russian vehicle as it attempts to escape the attention of the drone, which is recording the footage.
Accompanied by dramatic music, the video shows the vehicle begins to emit smoke, prompting Russian soldiers to begin climbing out of the vehicle.
One soldier can be seen running, while two others crouch down beside the vehicle.
In the second part of the clip, the soldiers have fled the scene, leaving the vehicle behind with an open hatch.
The drone gradually flies closer to the vehicle and prepares to drop a grenade directly into the gunner’s turret hatch – a tactic frequently used by Ukrainian drone operators looking to ensure that Russian tanks cannot be easily recovered in the event that Russian forces re-enter the territory.
As the drone retreats from the vehicle, the fire inside the hatch is seen growing bigger and bigger, eventually engulfing the vehicle and leaving it destroyed.
According to Ukraine Weapons Tracker, the incident occurred somewhere in Donetsk Oblast.
“In #Donetsk Oblast, a Russian BMP-1 IFV was taken out of action by a Ukrainian ATGM strike, then finished off with a drone dropped a grenade, directly inside the gunner’s turret hatch,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.
Russia Faces BMP Crisis
The BMP-1 is already an outdated piece of equipment.
The Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle has been in service since 1966, and even with a host of new upgrades, it is no match for Ukraine’s NATO-standard rockets and ammunition.
But, it is military hardware that Russia had in abundance at the beginning of the war – and in the absence of more modern and advanced military vehicles, the BMP-1 has proven essential in Russia’s efforts to conquer Ukraine.
That’s why a shortage of BMP-1s is causing Russia huge problems right now.
A tally of the number of BMP-1 vehicles Russia still has in use in Ukraine suggests that Russia has lost an enormous number of these vehicles, as well as BMP-2s and BMP-3s.
The tally, which uses open-source intelligence, suggests that Ukraine captured or destroyed 300 BMP-1s out of 600 deployed to Ukraine, as well as 220 BMP-3s and 750 BMP-2s.
NOTE: You can watch the video here as we have chosen not to embed it, as some may find it disturbing. We apologize for any inconvenience.
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.
From 19FortyFive
Ukraine Footage Shows U.S. M982 ‘Excalibur’ Cut Through Russian Artillery
How To Sink A $3 Billion Dollar Submarine: Leave A Hatch Open
Smashed To Pieces: Video Shows Ukraine Hitting Russian Air Defenses
