This is the moment Ukrainian troops use a Stugna-P anti-tank missile system to destroy a Russian infantry fighting vehicle.
The Ukrainian military said they blasted a BMP-2 armored vehicle and detonated its onboard ammo in the process, killing its occupants.
The 24th Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces said on May 19: “Detonation of BMP-2 vehicle’s ammunition after successful calculation of the anti-tank missile system.
“STUGNA-P” of the 24th Mechanized Brigade in Luhansk Oblast.
And the tower of the occupiers’ combat vehicle, weighing over two tons, flew into the air.”
The Center for Strategic Communications (StratCom) said: “Another batch of Russian occupiers went to the Kobzon [dead Russian singer] concert. This time, the 24th Mechanized Brigade named after King Daniel delivered the tickets.
“Believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!”
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. May 20 marks the 86th day of the campaign.
From February 24 to May 19, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 28,500 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,254 tanks, 3,063 armored fighting vehicles, 595 artillery systems, 199 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 anti-aircraft systems, 203 warplanes, 167 helicopters, 2,157 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 455 unmanned aerial vehicles, 43 units of special equipment, and 103 cruise missiles.
Meanwhile, following the fall of the port city of Mariupol, the Russian authorities plan to tear down the Azovstal metallurgical plant and turn the city into a “resort”, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
The Kremlin also says that the Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal plant have been taken to a former prison colony in a Russian-controlled part of Donetsk.
Russia’s defense ministry said 771 Ukrainian fighters from the steelworks had surrendered up until May 19, taking the total to 1,730, and 80 of the fighters were wounded.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine an “absolute failure” and said Russian leaders were afraid to acknowledge “that catastrophic mistakes were made at the highest military and state level”.
Zelenskyy also said that said Ukraine is determined to reclaim control over the southern cities of Kherson, Melitopol, Berdiansk, Enerhodar and Mariupol, now occupied by Russian forces.