The war in Ukraine looks like a disaster for Russian President Putin and his military machine.
Day after day, the world can watch on social media his once mighty tank forces get destroyed.
And to make matters worse: he must replace his tanks with older models that could have fought in World War II while Ukraine gets modern tanks like the M1 Abrams.
Watch the Footage
A video clip posted by Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) highlighted the destruction of a Russian T-72 main battle tank (MBT) in the Donbas region.
The footage, believed to have been recorded earlier in March, purported to show the Ukrainian 10th Mountain Assault Brigade destroying the Russian MBT with a Stugna-P ATGM strike.
The tank was left fuming at the end of the one-minute and eight-second video.
No survivors could be seen – while commentators noted, it isn’t exactly a good time to be part of a Russian tank crew.
The incident had occurred in the vicinity of Bilohorivka on the border of Donetsk Oblast, the site of heavy fighting since last September.
The Stugna-P ATGM
The recent destruction of the T-72 is also noteworthy as it involved the Skif Stugna-P ATGM – a Ukrainian anti-tank guided missile system that was developed domestically at the Luch Design Bureau.
The platform, which was designed to destroy modern armored targets, consists of a tripod, missile container, remote control panel guidance device, and thermographic camera (thermal imager).
There are two firing modes including manually steered and automated fire-and-forget – the latter relying on an automatic control using a targeting laser beam.
It has a daytime range of about five kilometers (three miles) but it isn’t clear how far away the Ukrainian team was when it destroyed the T-72.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 10th Mountain Assault Brigade destroyed a Russian T-72 series tank with a Stugna-P ATGM strike in the vicinity of Bilohorivka, #Donetsk Oblast. After being hit, the tank cooked off. pic.twitter.com/BrOTHLjgVQ
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 15, 2023
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.
