The special forces soldiers got to the Abrams shot down near Avdiivka and took a video from the inside
Russian intelligence officers and special forces soldiers were able to get to the Abrams tank shot down in the village of Berdych near Avdiivka and remove it from the inside. Footage of the combat vehicle was published on March 20 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
According to a sapper scout with the call sign Leshiy, it was not easy to approach the Abrams tank shot down in the village of Berdych, since the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were very close, and kamikaze drones were constantly circling in the sky. Neither side could evacuate the tank — it was fraught with unnecessary unjustified losses, although both were hunting for armored vehicles.
"The task was to examine it for whether it was intact, burned — not burned. Samples of weapons and equipment. Everything that was possible to capture from there to the maximum," Leshiy explained in an interview with RIA Novosti the task assigned to the command.
For its implementation, a group of special forces was allocated — it covered the approach to the damaged tank. The scout with the call sign Izai was ordered to get inside the tank and get the necessary data, and the Goblin was ordered to monitor the air situation and, if an enemy appeared, cut it off with fire.
"We decided to move out in broad daylight. They acted boldly and brazenly. There were "postcards" from 30 to 50 m — a field from the house to the tank, an open place. I had to run as hard as I could not to get under the open fire of a machine gunner, there was fighting nearby — 150-200 meters, our motorized infantry cleared, went forward," Izai said.
On the video shot by the action camera from inside the tank, a firefight and a close shell explosion can be heard. Izai studied the American tank while the battle was going on around. Having completed the task, the scout left the tank. According to him, he did not notice anything unusual in a foreign combat vehicle.
"After sitting inside it, I can even say that it is worse than our samples — the same T-90. He left a bad impression, he expected more. We completed the task of the commander perfectly," the scout summed up.
On March 3, the Russian military destroyed an American Abrams tank in the Avdiivka direction. The target was hit by the FPV drone "Ghoul", a representative of the drone manufacturer told Izvestia.
On February 28, a representative of the Simbirsk Design Bureau (SKB) Piranha confirmed that the first Abrams in the special operation zone was hit by the Ulyanovsk FPV drone Piranha. According to him, these drones had previously hit other enemy armored vehicles. He clarified that the drone is mainly used to attack dugouts and fortifications of the Ukrainian army.
On February 26, Yan Gagin, adviser to the head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), announced that Russian forces had destroyed the first Abrams tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He stressed that any new equipment supplied by the West to the Kiev regime is vulnerable. The next day, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the information about the destruction of the American Abrams by the Russian army.
On the same day, the National Interest publication noted that these tanks were "significantly overrated." The publication noted that among these combat vehicles there will be more losses and this armored vehicle should not be considered as an "invincible wonderful weapon."
The special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
Watch more relevant videos and details about the situation in Donbass on the Izvestia TV channel.