As of: March 19, 2024, 4:54 a.m
By: Lisa Mahnke
Comments
Press
Split
Russia is keeping a particular eye on NATO weapons in the Ukraine war.
Now Putin's soldiers are presenting a Leopard 2 tank as a trophy.
Avdiivka - Russia's armed forces are said to have captured a Leopard 2 tank in the Ukraine war.
According to media reports, it is a tank whose tank was damaged on October 31st - a day after Ukrainian troops began using it.
Now the Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov shared a picture on his Telegram channel in which a Russian soldier posed in front of the tank.
“We ourselves are confused about the number of NATO vehicles destroyed,” says the description of the recently published Russian Telegram post.
The photo is said to have been taken about 900 meters south of the village of Stepowe, according to
Bild
.
After the front in the Ukrainian War moved further west, the tank is now in Russian-occupied territory and fell completely into Russian hands.
Avdiivka and Stepove are now under Russian control.
Leopard 2 tank has probably been damaged for a long time - Putin still uses it for propaganda
At the end of October, Russian troops damaged the vehicle's fuel tank, according to media reports.
All four Ukrainian soldiers from the tank are said to have made it to their own lines alive.
If it is really the same tank, the tank has not been roadworthy for a long time.
Nevertheless, according to Bild
, Russia could
now try to use the 55-ton truck for Russian propaganda and a demonstration of strength.
Russia presented a captured Leopard 2 tank (symbolic image).
© Imago
The Russian army regularly boasts of destroying Ukrainian war materials.
A summary from the Russian Ministry of Defense on Telegram is said to show an overview “since the start of the special military operation”.
Also explicitly mentioned there: material from NATO countries.
It seems that Vladimir Putin is paying particular attention to NATO equipment so as not to miss any propaganda opportunities.
Ukraine is running out of Leopard tanks – Denmark and the Netherlands want to continue supplying them
The loss is certainly painful for Ukraine, even though the tank had been out of action since the end of October.
According to the online documentation platform “Oryx”, the Ukrainian military has so far lost seventeen Leopard 2A4s and 12 Leopard 2A6s.
The wear on the tanks is therefore high.
Since the delivery of 18 Leopard 2A6s in early 2023, no further main battle tanks have been delivered by Germany.
The German government also no longer promised any further deliveries.
Of the Leopard 2 tanks available in Germany, only a few are still operational.
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Other NATO member states also supplied Ukraine with Leopard tanks, including Canada, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.
Denmark and the Netherlands also ordered Leopard tanks for Ukraine.
According to the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the first two of 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks have now been brought to Ukraine.
Both sides, Ukraine and Russia, have increasingly relied on drones to combat tanks in the past.
Russia has also destroyed a Leopard tank in this way.
According to some voices, the fact that Ukraine is also increasingly using drones is a compulsion - because it cannot afford a conventional war.
(lismah)