WATCH Russia’s first-ever battlefield destruction of British-made Challenger 2 tank
A new video showing the exact moment a British-made Ukrainian Challenger 2 tank was destroyed in Zaporozhye Region has emerged online.
The footage surfaced on Russian Telegram channels on Wednesday. The video, captured by a drone, shows the tank being hit by a guided projectile, said to be Kornet, a modern Russian-made anti-tank missile. The vehicle emits a large plume of smoke after the hit, which seems to trigger an on-board fire.
The first footage of the destroyed Challenger 2 emerged online earlier this week. The tank had completely burned out, with a pile-up of other Ukrainian military vehicles lying by its side.
London has confirmed the destruction of the tank, which is now the first-ever combat loss from enemy fire for vehicles of this type. The UK does not intend to send additional Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to replace the losses, newly-appointed Secretary of Defense Grant Shapps said during a live appearance on Sky News on Wednesday.
“I can confirm that is correct. It may be the first loss [of a Challenger 2 tank] as far as we’re aware. We accept that, in a war zone, there can be material losses, which is what’s happened here,” Shapps stated.
Some 14 UK-made Challenger 2 tanks were supplied to Ukraine earlier this year, alongside other Western-made heavy armor, predominantly variants of German-made Leopard 2 tanks. Thus far, Challenger 2 tanks have apparently seen limited action on the frontline. During its counteroffensive against the Russian military, Kiev’s troops primarily used Leopard 2 tanks, with multiple units damaged and destroyed in the push, which has yielded no tangible results.
