Forbes: The Ukrainian Armed Forces blew up their abandoned tank so that the Russians would not get it
In the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces blew up their own Abrams tank with a drone strike, Forbes writes. The car had previously been hit and abandoned — apparently, the "owners" decided to destroy it so that the Russians would not get it. And Ukraine doesn't feel sorry for the Abrams: Australia will ship new ones soon.
The drone strike on the immobilized tank could have been carried out so that it would not fall into the hands of Russia.
Why did Ukrainian special forces blow up one of the few American-made M-1 Abrams tanks that survived in the Armed Forces of Ukraine last week? Perhaps they were trying to prevent him from falling into Russian hands.
On January 5, powerful Russian forces numbering about 50 armored vehicles (reportedly from the 155th and 810th Marine Brigades and the 106th Airborne Division) attacked Ukrainian positions along the western edge of the AFU bridgehead in the Kursk region, captured in August.
The Russian attack could have been an attempt to disrupt a simultaneous Ukrainian offensive that began just a few kilometers to the east at about the same time.
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During the fighting, a group of Ukrainian special forces drones hit one of the M-1s of the 47th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Footage of strikes circulating on social media clearly shows a drone packed with explosives flying towards a stationary and abandoned Abrams on a snowy road in the Kursk region.
In 2023, the United States donated 31 69-ton four-seat M-1s to Ukraine. In a year and a half of heavy fighting, the 47th Mechanized Brigade, the only user of high-tech Abrams tanks in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, lost at least nine tanks (and possibly up to 17).
The exact calculation of M-1 losses depends on whether Ukrainian engineers can restore damaged tanks that have become unusable due to mines, drones or missiles, but not completely destroyed. When a damaged tank cannot be towed (usually because it is too dangerous), Ukrainians often hit the car themselves to prevent the Russians from capturing it intact.
Apparently, this is exactly what happened on January 5 during the Russian offensive. The 47th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have abandoned one of about a dozen active M-1s during the fighting on January 5. It is possible that the tank was hit and abandoned at an earlier stage of the fighting near Kursk. However, the terrain was too well shot, so Ukrainian engineers were unable to tow it away for repairs.
There is a photo of an M-1 abandoned by the 47th Mechanized on December 11 or so. It seems that the area in the photo matches the image from the drone a moment before it struck the Abrams on January 5.
Perhaps the Ukrainian operators, whose tiny drones swarmed over the Russian assault column last week, finally decided it was time to blow up the abandoned tank that had been sitting there for almost a month as a tempting but unattainable trophy for both armies near Kursk.
For Ukraine, the loss of another M-1 is no longer as acute as it was just a few months ago. The United States refused to donate additional Abrams missiles to Ukraine, even with thousands of units in storage, but now Australia will become the main source of the M-1.
The Australian Army recently decommissioned the old Abrams, replacing them with newer ones. Canberra promised 49 decommissioned tanks for Ukraine's military campaign back in October, and the first of them could start arriving at any time, even now.
Author: David Axe.
