Russian special forces soldiers entered to inspect the body of the Ukrainian Abrams tank that was shot down near the village of Berdychi, showing that the vehicle's interior was almost intact.
Russian media today released video from the helmet-mounted camera of special forces scouts nicknamed "Izay" and "Leshy" of the Central Army wing, recording the scene of them approaching and searching Ukrainian M1A1SA Abrams tanks. near the village of Berdychi, northwest of the city of Avdeevka in Donetsk province.
This is the second Ukrainian Abrams disabled in combat. Russian soldiers used RPG anti-tank guns to shoot off the tank's chain, before it was attacked by a suicide drone crew from the 30th Independent Mechanized Infantry Brigade.
"We were tasked with checking the condition of the car, determining whether it was intact or burned out inside, as well as collecting as much equipment as possible in the car," Leshy said.
Russian special forces approach the wreckage of an Abrams tank near the village of Berdychi in a video released today. Video: RIA Novosti
Two Russian soldiers admitted that it was not easy to reach the remains of the Abrams tank, because this location was near a Ukrainian base. Both sides were unable to deploy motor vehicles to pull the M1A1SA from the scene, due to frequent enemy artillery and suicide drones operating.
“Any vehicle that comes close to the Abrams will suffer the same fate as it. There is no reason to waste resources like that,” Izay said.
In the video, Izay runs to the body of the Abrams, climbs into the vehicle and climbs into the turret, while Leshy stands guard and supports his teammates. A series of artillery and gunfire rang out while Izay inspected the interior of the Abrams tank.
The image filmed by this soldier shows that the Abrams tank had its chain broken, but the interior was almost intact.
“We decided to move in broad daylight. The most dangerous is the open area 30-50 m long from the houses to the tank wrecks. Both had to run as fast as they could to avoid falling under machine gun fire, because the fighting took place only 150-200 meters away," Leshy said.
The Russian special forces group did not reveal what they collected from the Abrams, but confirmed that it was "nothing special" compared to Russia's T-90 tank. “I expected more,” Izay said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has so far announced the destruction of three Ukrainian Abrams tanks, of which one was taken down by a T-72B3 tank with the first shot.
Western media said the M1 Abrams tanks that Ukraine received from the US were "not new" and had all of the most sensitive technology removed, including armor made of alloys containing depleted uranium. This makes them more vulnerable to many popular anti-tank missiles.
Vu Anh (Follow RIA Novosti, Forbes)
