New video purportedly shows a Russian helicopter pilot destroying his country’s tank.
Footage shows a Russian Ka-52 helicopter blowing up a Russian MT-LB tracked armored vehicle in Novomykhaylyvka, in the Donetsk region. The video has been shared on multiple social media networks and appeared to originate on a Telegram channel called Russia No Context, which closely follows the Ukraine war. The video was reshared on X, formerly Twitter, by @wartranslated, which reports extensively on the conflict.
“According to sources, the Ukrainian pilot Alexei Voevoda—who crossed over to the Russian side along with the KA-52 helicopter—suddenly changed his decision and began to attack the convoy with Russian Armed Forces equipment,” reads the post from Russia No Context. “We are monitoring the development of the situation.”
As of Tuesday, Russia has lost 5,439 tanks since the war began in February 2022, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The numbers are calculated by Ukrainian military officials and vary based on country.
In another video clip that seemed to be filmed via drone that went viral across social media on Monday, Ukrainian forces allegedly destroyed an advanced Russian T-90M tank along the front lines in an unspecified location. Newsweek could not independently verify whether the emblazoned tank belonged to Russian forces or if the footage was current with the present conflict.
Kyiv’s efforts to forge a productive counteroffensive began in June but has not experienced the same success as one year ago. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its additional acquisition of Ukrainian territories last year, including eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, have been a red line of sorts for Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The relative stalemate on the battlefield is compounded by future concerns related to weather, manpower and weaponry—the latter of which much has been provided by the United States in the form of over $40 billion in aid which could be reduced drastically in upcoming months depending on additional resolutions succeeding in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Zelensky said in a recent interview with The Sun in Kyiv that his country has every right to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin if presented with the opportunity, saying he has been subjugated to the same threats by Russia.
“That’s war, and Ukraine has all the rights to defend our land,” Zelensky said.
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