US soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division train with M1A2 Abrams ... [+]
Saturday marked the two-year anniversary of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The somber anniversary came just days after the Kremlin's forces captured the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine. It was on Monday that Russian forces also claimed to have successfully destroyed the first U.S.-supplied M1 Abrams main battle tank (MBT) outside the besieged city.
Russian propagandists were quick to take to social media to share video of the tank's destruction, as it came under attack from units of the 15th Motorized Rifle Brigade from Samara. A so-called "kamikaze drone" or other form of "loitering munition" successfully targeted the MBT—and that point that was further noted due to the relatively low cost of the unmanned aerial system compared to the vehicle it destroyed.
Tanks Will Be Lost In War
Though still a notable loss for Ukraine, the reaction was almost certainly expected, as it follows the same pattern that occurred when the first German-made Leopard 2 was destroyed last spring and again when the first British-supplied Challenger 2 was lost in September. As previously reported, it is easy in wartime to focus on such high-profile vehicle losses on the battlefield, but the absolute best tank in the world still isn't a miracle weapon.
As the open source military intelligence watcher @Osinttechnical also noted, the destroyed/damaged M1 MBT had its blow out panels deployed—meaning that there was a significant chance that the crew could have survived the strike. Tanks are more readily replaceable than crews of course.
Moreover, others on social media responded that Russia has seen more than 3,000 tanks destroyed in the past 24 months, including a number of its highly-praised T-90 MBTs.
In fact, according to open source media reports, the Kremlin has lost more tanks in the fighting than it had it in active arsenals before the start of the war. The Russian military has been forced to refurbish and upgrade older tanks—many dating from the Cold War—to maintain its tank force.
It was just over a year ago that several Western nations pledged to provide Kyiv with modern MBTs, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as necessary to defeating the Russian military on the battlefield. The long anticipated offensive failed to make significant gains, even with the Western aid—and Ukraine could face increased hardship as the United States Congress remains unwilling to provide further aid until an agreement can be reached on securing the U.S. southern border.
Propaganda Victory?
Both Moscow and Kyiv—along with their respective proxies—have been quite adept at employing social media to broadcast such small victories. The loss of the M1 Abrams could also serve to downplay the fact that one of the Russian Aerospace Force's Beriev A-50 (NATO reporting name "Mainstay") reconnaissance aircraft was reportedly shot down last week while flying between the Russian cities of Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, more than 200km (124 miles) from the front lines.
Likewise, the loss of a single tank is hardly comparable to that of a warship—such as the Russian Navy's flagship Moskva, which was sunk in the spring of 2022—or the recent capture of Avdiivka. However, social media has simply allowed for every minor victory to be shared to the masses, and this truly highlights how the war in Ukraine is being so closely monitored in near real time.
