A photo and a video of a burning Abrams tank are circulating on the internet, allegedly showing the moment when the tank was hit and caught fire after being hit by a kamikaze drone.
According to reports, the U.S.-made tank was hit with an FPV drone with an RPG attached. The Russian soldiers involved in destroyed the Abrams are reportedly from the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade from Samara.
Pro-Russian accounts celebrated the destruction of the Abrams, pointing out that the tank, which is worth millions of dollars, was taken out by a relatively inexpensive kamikaze drone.
After the tank was hit, the ammunition exploded in the vehicle, although U.S. media outlets like Forbes say it is likely the crew escaped with their lives. According to a Russian Telegram channel, Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin had promised a 10 million ruble reward for the destruction of the M1 Abrams.
The destruction of the tank was confirmed to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti by Yan Gagin, an adviser to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The second video shows an Abrams tank “carelessly wandering” in the Avdiivka area before the attack.
At the end of October 2023, the U.S. military announced it had delivered to Ukraine all the 31 promised Abrams main battle tanks.
Russia has also lost hundreds of tanks due to cheap FPV drones, with the devices reshaping warfare and threatening to render expensive military equipment such as tanks obsolete unless new electronic warfare and other counter-measures are developed.
