The British Ministry of Defense will no longer be able to claim its Challenger 2 main battle tank has never been destroyed in combat.
On Monday, a video circulated that showed one of the British tanks burning on a roadside outside Robotyne in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast. It is the first confirmed loss of a Challenger 2.
The open-source military intelligence group Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) shared the video with the caption, “A Ukrainian Challenger 2 tank was destroyed near Robotyne, #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. A damaged T-64BV and two destroyed IMVs can be seen too. This is the first confirmed loss of this tank in Ukraine and is also the first one ever destroyed by enemy action.”
In January, the UK pledged to provide Kyiv with the tanks. They arrived in Ukraine this spring, and in June the first images and videos of Challengers being readied for combat circulated on social media. Ukraine’s forces went to great lengths to conceal the tanks’ movements, but the video clips were shared by the Ukraine Army’s 11th Separate Army Aviation unit.
There Will be Losses, Including Tanks
Russian propagandists were quick to note the loss of the Challenger 2 in the recent fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukrainian forces have successfully breached Russia’s first defensive belt. It might be part of an attempt to change the narrative that Russia is losing ground.
Pro-Kremlin voices online were quick to suggest the tank was dubbed “invincible,” but the British Army never made such a claim. The response is similar to propaganda surrounding early reports that Kyiv’s forces lost several German-made Leopard 2 MBTs, along with a number of U.S. M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, in the early stages of their highly anticipated offensive.
Though such losses are expected during offensive operations, the Kremlin scored a propaganda victory. Since then, Kyiv has largely sought to avoid the mistakes made by Russia when it launched its unprovoked invasion more than 18 months ago. Ukraine has held back its more advanced Western-made tanks, saving them for an attempted breakthrough.
It would seem that one MBT, some older tanks, and other vehicles were lost in the forward assault.
Of course, Russia has already lost thousands of tanks in the fighting, and it has had to bolster its numbers with Cold War-era tanks including the T-62 and even T-54/55 series. The latter has been employed as a kamikaze-style platform, with mixed results at best.
The Abrams Is Still Coming
Ukraine will be receiving additional Western-made MBTs, including more Leopard 2s as well as the American-made M1A1 Abrams. Those tanks could further help tip the scales in Ukraine’s favor, but at some point, we will probably see a video of an Abrams burning.
Tanks are simply lost in war. The ground those vehicles are used to take is what will matter more.
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.
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