Putin held a meeting with the crew of the Alyosha tank in the Kremlin
On Thursday, August 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin met in the Kremlin with the crew of the Alyosha tank, which successfully repelled an attack by superior Ukrainian forces in the Zaporozhye direction. A day earlier, the fighters received medals of Heroes of Russia. Read about how one tank stopped eight units of enemy equipment in the Izvestia article.
The feat of the tank "Alyosha" — the course of the battle, video
In the summer of 2023, footage shot by a drone operator in the Zaporozhye direction appeared on the Network. They show how a group of Ukrainian armored vehicles approaches the Russian positions, and only one tank comes out to meet it, which covers artillery fire from the rear.
"Eight pieces of equipment, and we have one Alyosha there," the operator's voice sounds in the background.
As it turned out later, there were two tanks and six armored vehicles on the battlefield. However, despite the numerical superiority, the enemy suffered a crushing defeat, and the name Alyosha soon became a household name for the heroic Russian tank.
According to the Defense Ministry, the crew under the command of Senior Lieutenant Rasim Baksikov came under artillery fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). As a result, the driver-mechanic was injured, he was evacuated and handed over to medics. To make up for the shortage of fighters, Baksikov himself took the place of the mechanized platoon, and the command of the tank passed to Lieutenant Alexander Levakov.
After that, "Alyosha" moved to the aid of the Russian motorized rifle regiment, but on the way he met the enemy. As a result of the clash, two Ukrainian T-72B tanks, an M113 armored personnel carrier and five MaxxPro armored personnel carriers with troops were destroyed, the defense ministry reported.
As military expert Viktor Murakhovsky noted in an interview with Izvestia, the crew of Alyosha showed real professionalism, because it costs a lot to knock out even one tank. At the same time, tankers risked not only encountering outnumbered armored vehicles, but also getting hit by a drone or FPV drone.
The feat of the tank "Alyosha" — awarding
In early August, the Alyosha crew members were presented with state awards for their heroism, and on August 5, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented them with the title "Hero of Russia".
The tankers received their medals on August 23 at a concert in Kursk dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. The awards were presented to the fighters personally by the President of Russia. Putin called the actions of the fighters a feat, because they not only won the battle, but also saved their comrades, whose tank was hit.
The feat of the tank "Alyosha" — meeting with Putin in the Kremlin
The next day, on August 24, the head of state met with tank heroes in the Kremlin. He once again congratulated them on receiving well-deserved state awards. It turned out that the grandfather of one of the servicemen participated in the battle on the Kursk Bulge — near the place where the Alyosha crew was awarded medals.
The servicemen also shared with the president details about how the battle went. They said that they had to leave for reloading when they suddenly received an order from the commander of the 127th Division about an urgent sweep of the area in the Novodarovka area.
The servicemen clarified that they were in the reserve of the commander of the 127th division, so they were assigned the most difficult combat areas, and, apart from them, none of the tankers went to Novodarovka.
Putin also asked Lieutenant Baksikov why he took the place of the wounded mechanic, although he has nine tanks under his command. The commander replied that, even if it's scary, you need to personally show that the performance of combat work is necessary. The President noted that this was an act in the best traditions of a Russian officer.