This footage reportedly shows a Ukrainian T-64BM tank disabling a Russian infantry fighting vehicle.
The images were obtained from the 22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, on Friday, August 26, along with a statement saying: “Detect and destroy: in the Kharkiv region, servicemen of the 22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion track enemy vehicles in the fields and give them a good beating.
“This is how they worked against the enemy, namely, they disabled the MT-LB of the orcs, which apparently lost its ‘marketable appearance’. Therefore, every strike of our soldiers must be accurate. Each damaged piece of equipment of the occupiers adds strength and confidence to our fighters.”
Ukrainian troops often refer to the invading Russian forces as “orcs,” in a reference to the monstrous evil hordes described in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
The images were also relayed by the Chernihiv Regional Territorial Center for Recruitment And Social Support.
The MT-LB is a tracked, armored fighting vehicle that has been in use since the 1950s. The T-64BM Bulat is a Ukrainian upgrade of the Soviet T-64B main battle tank.
Zenger News contacted the 22nd Motorized Infantry Battalion 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 still calling a “special military operation”. Friday marks the 184th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 26, Russia had lost about 46,250 personnel, 1,936 tanks, 4,251 armored combat vehicles, 1,040 artillery units, 272 multiple launch rocket systems, 148 air defense systems, 234 warplanes, 202 helicopters, 834 drones, 196 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,162 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 99 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was temporarily disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in almost 40 years of operation, as a result of shelling that cut the last remaining power line to the facility, according to the country’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom.
Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, said the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog could go to the plant in the “coming days”.
The White House has called on Russia to accept a demilitarized area around the plant after U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked on Wednesday, Ukraine’s 31st independence day.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million soldiers.
Latvia has taken down a Soviet-era obelisk in its capital, Riga, amid criticism from Russia and protest from the Baltic country’s ethnic Russian minority. The nearly 262-foot obelisk was at the heart of a monument to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has issued a decree stating that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes are to be destroyed by November 15.
