WAR IN UKRAINE: Russian Armoured Vehicle Hit In Strike While Trying To Escape

Story By:  Ana MarjanovicSub-EditorMichael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

This footage purports to show a Russian armoured personnel carrier emerging from a tree line and travelling across a pockmarked field before it is hit in a Ukrainian artillery strike and left smouldering.

Newsflash obtained the video from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on 15th June.

The AFU General Staff said: “Soldiers of the 95th Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a Russian MT-LB armoured personnel carrier that was trying to ‘escape’.”

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claim that the soldiers of the 95th separate assault brigade destroyed the Russian armored transporter MT-LB in Ukraine. (@GeneralStaff.ua/Newsflash)

The 95th Air Assault Brigade is a unit of Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, Ukraine’s rapid reaction force. It is located in Zhytomyr in northwest-central Ukraine. The brigade did not specify where in Ukraine the strike took place.

The MT-LB is a Soviet multi-purpose fully amphibious auxiliary armoured tracked vehicle that entered service in the late 1950s. The Ukrainian military is also among its current operators.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation” to “liberate the Donbass”. Today marks the 113th day of the invasion.

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claim that the soldiers of the 95th separate assault brigade destroyed the Russian armored transporter MT-LB in Ukraine. (@GeneralStaff.ua/Newsflash)

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 16th June, Russia had lost about 32,950 personnel, 1,449 tanks, 3,545 armoured fighting vehicles, 729 artillery pieces, 233 multiple launch rocket systems, 97 air defence systems, 213 warplanes, 179 helicopters, 591 tactical drones, 129 cruise missiles, 13 warships, 2,494 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 55 pieces of special equipment.

In related news, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi are en route to Kyiv for talks. They are hoping to rebut what has been perceived as their lukewarm support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Washington has told China it risks ending up on the “wrong side of history” following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Beijing supports Russian “sovereignty”.

General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claim that the soldiers of the 95th separate assault brigade destroyed the Russian armored transporter MT-LB in Ukraine. (@GeneralStaff.ua/Newsflash)

Thousands of civilians remain trapped in the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, where the water supply is reported to be dwindling. Hundreds of civilians are taking shelter in the bunkers beneath the city’s Azot chemical plant.

Luhansk Oblast governor Serhiy Haidai said earlier this week that all three bridges into Sievierodonetsk had been destroyed, making delivering supplies and evacuating civilians impossible.

United States President Joe Biden has promised Kyiv another USD 1 billion in security assistance and weapons. And US General Mark Milley says Russia has lost around 20 to 30 per cent of its armoured force during the ongoing invasion.