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This is the moment Russia incinerated ‘one of the most capable tanks in the world’ deployed by Ukraine, it has been reported.
Footage circulating on pro-war Telegram channels shows the burning armoured vehicle near the frontline city of Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region.
Military bloggers boasted it is one of the 31 M1 Abrams tanks that Joe Biden sent to Ukraine in 2022.
Ukraine’s military is yet to comment on the claims, but if confirmed, it will be the first such a vehicle destroyed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Russian news outlet Mash reported: ‘The first one went. The famous American M1 Abrams was shot down in the Avdiivka direction.’
Before this, the movement of the tank was reportedly noticed in Berdychi, around a mile from Russian positions in the Donetsk region.
Smoke rising from the burning vehicle (Picture: Solovyov Live/ East2west news)
It was a year ago Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin promised to pay £86,000 for the destruction of a Western tank.
The propagandist wrote on social media that ‘representatives of a large Russian business have authorised me to announce that they are assigning a bonus of 10 million roubles for each Abrams,’ without specifying the business.
News outlet Moskovsky Komsomolets reported: ‘The first Abrams near Avdiivka was burned by the Black Hussars of the Brave group.
’Soldiers of the 15th brigade hit the tank with a kamikaze drone and finished it off with a grenade launcher.’
A video of the vehicle engulfed in flames was revealed by one of the Kremlin’s top propagandists Solovyov Live Telegram channel.
It was released as Russian soldiers captured the Ukrainian village of Lastochkyne, about five kilometres northwest of Avdiivka, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s military said it had retreated from the eastern village, saying the move would help it better contain Russian soldiers’ westwards advance.
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