This footage shows a Russian tank being hit by Ukrainian artillery in the breakaway Donetsk region.
The images show a stationary tank on a road before it is suddenly hit by an ordnance fired by Ukrainian artillerymen. The tank appears damaged and smoke can be seen spewing from it before it moves a short distance.
It is currently unclear if the tank was destroyed.
The footage was obtained from the National Guard of Ukraine on Wednesday, August 17, along with a statement saying: “The artillery of the National Guard of Ukraine is aiming fire at Russian tanks in the Donetsk region.”
Zenger News contacted the National Guard of Ukraine for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Wednesday marks the 175th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 17, Russia had lost about 44,100 personnel, 1,886 tanks, 4,162 armored combat vehicles, 993 artillery units, 263 multiple launch rocket systems, 136 air defense systems, 233 warplanes, 196 helicopters, 792 drones, 190 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,054 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 93 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures. The Pentagon said last week that Russia had suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties – deaths and injuries – since the beginning of its invasion.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, are set to meet in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on Thursday to review the current grain export deal.
The first ship to leave Ukraine under the grain export deal docked in Syria on Tuesday, August 16.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Zelensky, Erdogan and Guterres will also talk about “the need for a political solution to this conflict” and the ongoing situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — which is currently under Russian control.
Denis Pushilin, head of the pro-Russian, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has said in a letter to Kim Jong-un that North Korea and the DPR will develop “equally beneficial bilateral cooperation”, according to North Korean state media.
The authorities in Estonia are removing Soviet-era statues and monuments, with the government pledging to take down between 200 and 400 of them by the end of the year. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said: “No one wants to see our militant and hostile neighbor foment tensions in our home.”
Estonia is also closing its border to over 50,000 Russians this week who had previously been issued visas and Finland has said that it will cut the number of visas issued to Russians to 10 percent of the current amount from September 1.
