Leopard 2 tanks are among the most advanced and powerful military vehicles. NATO countries have provided dozens of aid to Ukraine.
Did Russia recently destroy eight German-made Leopard tanks while Ukraine launched a counterattack?
This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, claiming a grainy black and white video as evidence.
Several silhouettes of vehicles before a helicopter fired a missile that hit it, causing an explosion. “Direct hit!” said a voice on the recording speaking in Russian.
Almost immediately after the video was posted, many Twitter users and military experts questioned its authenticity.
Leopard 2 tanks are among the most advanced and powerful military vehicles.
Several NATO countries began supplying them to Ukraine earlier this year.
According to many analysts, the video released by the Russian authorities is not a Leopard 2, or even a tank for that matter.
These so-called “tanks” turned out to be nothing more than farming equipment.
As one Twitter user and Twitter Military Analysis account pointed out, the silhouette of the destroyed vehicles in the video appears to closely match a self-propelled sprayer used in agriculture.
“Even semi-professionals can clearly see that these are agricultural combine harvesters and sprayers,” he said.
A weapons expert explained on Twitter that the vehicle that was hit by a Russian missile has four wheels, while the Leopard 2 tanks have continuous tracks like a bulldozer and are also lowered.
Other elements that seem odd in the video are that these purported tanks are out in the open and stationary, which doesn’t make strategic sense since Leopard 2s are usually camouflaged behind trees and other vegetation.
In the long version of the video released by the Russian Defense Ministry, one of the operators is heard saying “Let’s try this on those,” which could mean it was just a military test.
Even the main pro-Kremlin channels spotted this discrepancy and derided it as propaganda.
Pro-Russian military blogger Post it on Telegram Say, “It’s embarrassing, we’re at a loss for words. Sorry.”
The leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has clashed with top Russian military officials, mocked the ministry’s claim that the Ukrainian counterattack had been “put on hold”.
“Judging by the Defense Ministry’s announcement … we have already defeated all European armies at least a long time ago,” Prigozhin said via his press service, adding that the war could now end because Russia “has no one left to fight.” ”
