This footage shows Ukrainian artillerymen destroying a Russian T-72B tank, two armored personnel carriers and a headquarters on the front lines.
The footage was obtained from the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade – also known as the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade named after Grand Duke Vytautas – of the Ukrainian Ground Forces on Tuesday, August 2, along with a statement saying: “The Grand Duchy brigade together with the separate intelligence battalion ‘Skala’ is confidently doing its job. As long as the occupier is in Ukraine, the ground will burn underfoot, and thunder will strike from the sky!”
The images were also relayed by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the umbrella of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information. The Center said in a statement that the footage shows how “soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ‘punished’ the occupiers and destroyed their equipment”.
The Center added: “Ukrainian defenders from the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade named after Grand Duke Vytautas, together with fellow scouts of Skala, burn the ground under the feet of the invaders and send incendiaries from the sky.
“The result was a ‘gesture of goodwill from the enemy headquarters, a T-72B tank, two BTR-80s and two armored personnel carriers.”
The “gesture of goodwill” is understood to be a reference to the – widely derided – claim from the Russian Ministry of Defense that Russian forces had left Snake Island in the Black Sea as a “gesture of goodwill” on June 30. This is after they were repeatedly bombed by Ukrainian forces.
Zenger News contacted the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Wednesday marks the 161st day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Command of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces reported that between February 24 and August 3, Russia had lost about 41,350 personnel, 1,774 tanks, 4,022 armored combat vehicles, 939 artillery units, 259 multiple launch rocket systems, 118 air defense systems, 223 warplanes, 191 helicopters, 740 drones, 180 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,922 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 83 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Russia attacked the city of Kharkiv early on Wednesday with missiles launched from Belgorod, which is in Russia, some 25 miles from the border. The missiles damaged an industrial facility. This is according to Oleh Synyehubov, the Governor of the Kharkiv region.
A former commander of the Azov Regiment, Maksym Zhorin, has said that some of Ukrainian POWs who died in the explosion at the Olenivka prison in Russian-occupied Donetsk have been identified but that the lists are incomplete.
The U.S. has placed sanctions on Alina Kabaeva, 39, who is believed to be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lover. She now features on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list of sanctioned nationals.
Russia has accused the U.S. of direct involvement in the war by providing Ukraine with targeting information for missile strikes. Ukraine’s acting deputy head of military intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, has denied that U.S. officials have been providing direct targeting information but he did acknowledge that there was consultation.
The Pentagon denied on Tuesday Moscow’s claims that Russia had destroyed six U.S.-made HIMARS missile systems since the beginning of the war. Todd Breasseale, the Pentagon’s acting spokesman, said: “We are aware of these latest claims by [Russian] Minister [of Defense Sergei] Shoigu and they are again patently false.”
Russia’s Supreme Court has labeled the Azov regiment a “terrorist” organization, paving the way for Moscow to impose lengthy prison terms on Azov members currently in Russian custody.
The first grain ship exporting food from Ukraine under a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations has reached Turkey’s Bosporus Strait from the Black Sea. It is the first of 27 ships planned so far that, it is hoped, will help fight the global food crisis.
The UN Refugee Agency said that over 10 million people have now fled across Ukraine’s borders since Russia invaded.
Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, warned that nuclear annihilation is only one miscalculation away at the opening of a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York. He said that the world is facing “nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War.”
He added that the war in Ukraine was a significant factor and said: “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
