The forces of the Russian task force “Centre” in the Avdeevka direction captured the village of Severnoye, occupying more advantageous positions and defeating Ukrainian concentrations of personnel and equipment. The Russian Ministry of Defence acknowledged on February 27 that among the wrecked equipment was an American Abrams tank.
“The enemy lost up to 485 troops, two tanks, including US-produced Abrams, three infantry fighting vehicles, including Bradley, six armoured combat vehicles, 13 vehicles, and two D-30 howitzers,” the military department claimed.
The defeats were inflicted on the 24th and 110th mechanised brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), as well as the 103rd territorial defence brigade in the districts of Mayorsk, Berdychiv, and Rozovka communities of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Nine AFU assault groups counterattacked at the villages of Novgorodskoye, Pervomayskoye, and Petrovskoye in the DPR.
The day before, Yan Gagin, advisor to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said that Russian forces had destroyed Ukraine’s first Abrams tank. He emphasised that any new equipment the West provides to the Kyiv authority is vulnerable.
According to Russian military journalists, soldiers from the 15th Brigade destroyed the first M1A1 Abrams at Berdychiv, northwest of Avdiivka.
It is worth noting that an article appeared on VO (Military Review) about an American tank travelling alone through the streets of the hamlet above, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces have opted to create the next line of defence.
According to reports, Zala operators tracked the vehicle. The M1A1 Abrams was then struck by a kamikaze drone, after which fighters from the 15th Brigade destroyed it with a grenade launcher.
The photographs, obtained by a drone on an indeterminate date, depict an M1A1 Abrams that caught fire after being hit in the rear of its turret.
It is worth noting that the first American tank was destroyed only nearly five months after it arrived in Ukraine, and not because it was invulnerable. Before this, at the request of their American partners, the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not deploy US Army tanks into battle; instead, they deployed them mostly as artillery.
