A video shared by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov captures a Ukrainian tank recently firing at point-blank range on a Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) in Russia’s Kursk region.
The footage, posted on Butusov’s Telegram channel on October 16, shows a Russian armored personnel carrier crossing a field and approaching two Ukrainian tanks. A front-line Ukrainian tank fires at the carrier from shockingly close range, sending up plumes of smoke.
At least three soldiers are pictured exiting the Russian vehicle. A second video shows the APC being struck again. The Ukrainian Ground Forces’ 225th Assault Battalion reportedly provided the footage.
According to Butusov, the Ukrainian tank that fired was part of the 17th Tank Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
To watch the video, click here. Newsweek has not independently verified the footage and has reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian military for confirmation and comment via email on Sunday.
Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, most of the fighting has occurred in Kyiv. However, a surprise offensive by Ukrainian forces on August 6 pushed into Russia’s Kursk region northeast of Ukraine, marking the most significant advance into Russian territory since the start of full-scale war. Kyiv has said that since the offensive, it has captured at least 500 square miles of territory in the region.
However, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank that tracks daily changes to the frontlines, said on Saturday that Moscow’s forces had made gains to the east of Sudzha.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s army chief, said in a Telegram post on Sunday that he visited and “worked with military units and subdivisions operating in the Sumy and Kursk regions.”
He added, “Despite all the enemy’s attempts to seize the initiative, the situation remains under our control.”
A destroyed Russian tank is seen outside Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region on August 16. A video shared by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov captures a Ukrainian tank recently firing at point-blank range on a Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) in Russia’s Kursk region.
YAN DOBRONOSOV/AFP via Getty Images
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said North Korea “is getting involved in the war” with Ukraine and is preparing tens of thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Russia.
“I know that there is an intention to prepare 10,000 soldiers from different branches of the armed forces,” he said in during press conference in Brussels reported by Ukrainian media.
This would mark a significant escalation in North Korea’s involvement in the war on behalf of its key ally, Russia.
The Kremlin has dismissed reports of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces as “fake news.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) new Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said on Friday that the alliance “cannot confirm reports that North Koreans are actively now as soldiers engaged in the war effort,” but said this “might change.”
“Even if North Korea is not physically there at the battlefield, then still they are helping to fuel Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in every way they can,” he said.
So far, no formal military forces from a country outside the conflict has committed a major chunk of forces to the frontlines. Since February 2022, the United States has provided $56.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
