The Ukrainian military shared videos on Thursday showing its artillery forces picking apart Russian tank columns as they approached the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.
One drone video posted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense showed artillery strikes as they landed in an area west of Kyiv, known as Borodyanka. The video is dated Tuesday and was released on Thursday.
The video paused multiple times on strikes that had successfully landed on Russian tanks in the area. At least four strikes landed on Russian tanks or armored vehicles throughout the video, and towards the end, another Russian vehicle could be seen driving away from the area at high speed.
“Fine work of our artillery on enemy tanks in the area of Borodyanka,” the translated tweet read.
On their official Facebook page, the Ukrainian military’s land forces shared another video apparently taken by multiple drones that showed dozens of Russian tanks in a traffic jam along a highway in the Brovary district of Kyiv. Artillery strikes could be seen landing near the tanks as they rushed to leave the area. A translated caption for the video reads: “‘Ukrainian Safari 2.0.’ Professional work of the Ukrainian military. Fight in Brovary district.”
It is not clear how many, if any, Russian tanks were hit during the artillery barrages captured in the second video. Ukraine’s defense intelligence office also shared the second video. In a translated statement, the Ukrainian intelligence office said Col. Zakharov, the Russian commander of the tanks in the video, was “liquidated” and the Russian tank unit “suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment.”
The exact number of Russian tanks, self-propelled artillery and other armored vehicles destroyed in the fighting is difficult to independently verify at this time. As of Thursday, Ukraine’s land forces claimed to have destroyed 335 tanks, 1,105 armored vehicles and 123 artillery systems in the two weeks of fighting so far.
Ukrainian forces have relied on a variety of means to repel Russia’s armored forces, including its own tanks and artillery, as well as an assortment of anti-tank rockets and missiles. North Atlantic Treaty Organization members have also donated thousands of anti-tank missiles, including U.S.-developed Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and British-Swedish-developed Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs). Ukrainian forces have also relied on the Turkish-developed TB2 Bayraktar unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) to deliver strikes against Russian ground forces.
Despite Ukraine’s reported destruction of hundreds of Russian armored vehicles, the Russian side is believed to still possess many more. During a Wednesday background briefing with the press, a U.S. defense official said “we still assess that [Russia has] greater than 90 percent of their available combat power ready for use.”
