Russian Forces Capture Most Powerful Model of Leopard 2 Transferred to Ukraine
© Photo : Screenshot / Russian Defense Ministry videoLeopard 2 and Bradley pictured among destroyed and damaged Ukrainian vehicles. Screenshot of Russian Defense Ministry video.
© Photo : Screenshot / Russian Defense Ministry video
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In February, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine had lost more than half of the Leopard tanks delivered to it.
Footage from the special military operation zone has confirmed that Russian forces managed to seize a Leopard 2A6, the most capable variant of the Leopard 2 provided to Ukraine, Military Watch Magazine reports.
"Video footage released on April 21 confirmed that Russian ground units captured a Leopard 2A6 tank during fighting with Ukrainian forces… Among European tanks it [the Leopard 2A6] is only surpassed in its capabilities by a very small number of Leopard 2A7s that entered service in the late 2010s," the article said.
It is noted that Leopard 2 tanks have suffered very serious losses since Ukrainian forces attempted a massive offensive against Russian positions in early June 2023, with Leopard 2A6s being among the first Western-made vehicles taken out of service and completely destroyed by Russian troops.
Earlier, Sputnik published a footage showing the evacuation of the captured tank.
Russian troops have evacuated a captured Leopard 2 tank, Russian media reported. Reportedly, fighters from the Russian Battlegroup Tsentr carried out an entire operation to evacuate the combat vehicle. To move the German tank, the soldiers had to “tear the tracks apart with an… pic.twitter.com/Z80IoSuzhE
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) April 21, 2024
Last Monday, Russian gunner Sergey Lazarenko revealed the destruction of the tank, noting that the vehicle was hit with the first shell.
Lazarenko said the German tank was hit by an Msta-SM2 self-propelled howitzer after being spotted by an Orlan reconnaissance UAV. German vehicles burn very well, he added. The soldier said he couldn't believe he had destroyed a Leopard tank until he saw the footage with his own eyes. The artilleryman stressed that he was very happy about it.
"At that moment, I felt satisfied that we had done our job not in vain, and there was one less enemy tank, because it would be much easier for our infantry to carry out their tasks," said another serviceman, Nikolai Polyakov.