A Ukrainian tank destroyed a Russian armored vehicle with a close-range shot

The Ukrainian-held city of Chasiv Yar has been the target of Russian interest since the fall of 2024. However, even after roughly ten months of fighting Russian forces haven’t managed to capture the city yet, though they’ve been getting closer. 

According to David Axe of Forbes, Russian forces have been able to advance into the Ukrainian fortress city’s central district at times. But such advances are always beaten back by the troops stationed in the city, and they aren’t making it easy. 

A recent incident revealed the ferocity of the fighting inside Chasiv Yar when Russian forces made their way into the central portion of the city. Combat footage recorded by an overhead drone showed a Ukrainian tank doing something drastic. 

On January 18th, a Russian assault made it into the ruins of Chasiv Yar and was met by troops from Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade. Two Russian BMD-4 infantry fighting vehicles involved in the attack were quickly dispatched by Ukrainian forces. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

Axe noted that combat footage showed a Ukrainian infantry soldier shooting one BMD-4 with a rocket-propelled grenade, which appeared to have destroyed the vehicle. Another faced off against a Ukrainian T-72 and took a direct hit at 100 feet (30 meters) from the tank's 125mm cannon. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

The Ukrainian military news website Militarnyi also reported the incident and noted that the Russian BMD-4 was destroyed by the tank attack. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr / Edited by The Daily Digest

“The military showed a tense battle with the invaders for the city in the Donetsk region, the fate of which was decided by a Ukrainian tank,” the outlet explained. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

Militarnyi noted that earlier in January, the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade knocked out four Russian BMD-4s during an attack in Chasiv Yar that included six of the armored vehicles. That attack was also halted by Ukrainian forces. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

“In addition to mechanized assaults, the Russians also use the tactics of small infantry groups. They are trying to penetrate the rear of the Ukrainian defenders’ positions, covertly accumulate, and attack,” Militarnyi noted. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

The shot from the Ukrainian T-72 in the most recent incident was an interesting tactic. However, a tank crew firing at such close range, even in urban combat, isn’t something Axe noted would have been usual for the Ukrainian Armed Forces earlier in the war. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @official24ombr

“It would have been unusual earlier in the war for a Ukrainian tank to fight that close. But the battlefield of Russia’s 35-month wider war on Ukraine is changing in ways that favor Ukrainian armored forces,” Axe reported. 

Ukraine's new battlefield advantages come down to its dominance in drones. Ukrainian forces have so many drones operating on the battlefield that a Russian military blogger was quoted by the Estonian Telegram channel War Translated as writing that Russian tanks “can only operate from covered positions.”

Axe noted that Russian forces are also using mass drone deployments as a way to look at the battlefield in real-time but added that Moscow’s drones were “shoddier” and their operators were less experienced than their Ukrainian counterparts. 

Russian drones also have to contend with Ukrainian radio jamming, which Axe claimed has been much more effective than Russian drone-jamming efforts. All of these factors force Russian tanks to hide while Ukrainian tanks have more freedom on the battlefield.

“It’s not hyperbole. Evidence abounds of Ukrainian tanks fighting closer than ever as the wider war grinds toward its fourth year,” Axe wrote, linking to an incident that occurred in October 2024 where a Russian vehicle was destroyed by tanks just 50 feet away. 

Photo Credit: Screenshot Telegram @ButusovPlus

“That doesn’t mean the Ukrainians are winning every battle, or the Russians are losing. Russian regiments might be loathe to risk their remaining tanks, but they clearly feel no such qualms when it comes to risking the less powerful BMD fighting vehicles and their infantry passengers.”

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