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British Challenger 2 tanks finally joined the fighting in Ukraine; but it turned out that they are already burning down on the front lines. On September 5, footage shared by Ukrainian servicemen confirmed that at least one Challenger 2 tank was destroyed in the Zaporozhie region. In several hours, the local Russian officials confirmed the reports.
This is reportedly the second case of Challenger combat loss in history. The first one was destroyed by friendly fire.
The footage of the first Challenger 2 burning on the Ukrainian battlefield was shared online on September 4 and was widely spread by various military sources confirming that it was the famous British main battle tank (MBT). This was confirmed by the turret seen still attached to the hull.
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The tank was destroyed near Rabotino in the Zaporozhie region. The area has recently become one of the main battlefields of the war in Ukraine. Challenger 2 tanks are in service with the 82nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), which is one of the last combat-ready units from the Ukrainian reserve. This brigade entered the battles near Rabotino in mid-August and only after several weeks of prolonged fighting they managed to repel Russian forces from the small settlement.
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The destruction of the first British MBT was confirmed immediately after the first reports claimed their deployment on the frontlines. On September 3, the Ukrainian military confirmed that the tanks took part in a battle in a video interview with a servicemen of the 82nd brigade, who praised the Challenger 2 for its long-range firepower and excellent protection.
“This tank is like a sniper rifle,” the Ukrainian tanker claimed.
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Challenger 2 is the main battle tank of the British Army, developed by BAE Systems in 1994. Equipped with a 120 mm rifled L30A1 cannon and two 7.62 mm machine guns. The effective firing range is 8 km. Challenger 2 is considered one of the heaviest Western tanks, which is due to the heavy armor that turned out to be too weak against the Russian weapons. The deployment of Challenger 2 tanks in the last summer days is the last chance to use them in the offensive campaign, since their manoeuvrability in the Ukrainian steppes will drastically decrease when the rains come.
These British tanks are famous for their long-range firepower thanks to the modern 120-millimeter rifled gun and better optics and fire-controls. Ukrainians hoped to use the Challenger from a safe distance, relying on modern optics. London likely also insisted on keeping its MBTs far from the frontlines to avoid their destruction. With so few Challenger 2s in its arsenal, the 82nd Brigade apparently should not be risking them in close attacks.
However, Kiev likely ran out of the advanced military equipment in the area and is forced to throw Challengers to the battles, where they are immediately destroyed.
The mass destruction of the advanced Western vehicles on the frontlines is also the result of incompetence and insufficient training of Ukrainian crews.
Britain announced its decision to supply Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine in mid-January, 2023. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak then said that a total of 14 tanks would be transferred. In March, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, who was later fired, said that 28 MBTs would be handed over to Kiev. However, the transfer of 28 vehicles was not confirmed.
In May, Ben Wallace, then the British Defense Minister, confirmed that the promised tanks had arrived in Ukraine. According to him, the Ukrainian military positively assessed the work of the MBTs.
Kiev is insistently asking Britain to supply more tanks but London is in no hurry to fulfill the demand. The number of combat-ready tanks in the British arsenal has been reduced to 40. Moreover, Britain can no longer produce large-caliber barrels for tanks and has to disassemble the existing tanks for repairs sent to Ukraine.
Each new foreign tank burning on Ukrainian frontlines is the shame for the NATO military-industrial complex and the strongest blow to the Ukrainian lobbyists. Months ago, the Kremlin criticized the transfer of Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. “These tanks are burning and will burn, just like the others.” said Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia.
that does not save fucking shithole ruzzia from collapsing
what was promised here already by me more than a year ago now slowly starts. china is taking russian land. i told you all that this will happen. while russia is hopelessly stuck in the ukrainian quagmire, fighting for a small piece of worthless land, and becoming indebted & fully depended on imports from china (chips, electronics, gear etc.) china starting annexing russian land in the east. just recenty it happened see:
china decided to unilaterally absorb the bolshoi ussuriysky islands in their entirety without consulting russia. new state released map shows that island as part of china. they were previously split by treaty in 2004, but china said, “fùck that treaty. they’re chinese now”. nothing russia can do about it lol
what source? kiev dream factory?
so what’s the worst that could happen – that russia gives up 150 km2 of a river island? it takes that much from the ukies in an afternoon.
link is missing
brain is missing more like. more copium from the drivel posters
boo hoo…..why do you bring such terrible news? it’s so awful, it’s almost like you made it up.
ok soldat schweik
heh im sure everyone saw this coming. inferior orc technology burns the best. keep doing god’s work russia.
just the latest game changer that changed nothing.
they should learn a new game. brits are still playing charge of the light-headed brigade.
polish kielbasa….when you off to the front? the russkies are waiting. don’t dilly dally now. while you’re gone, ask one of those dilly willy draft dodgers to milk your cow. be sure to sign over a right to survivorship to the brave little fellow though.
yeah, go on telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. hehehe
i got a feeling that the west will collapse first.
at last our famous challengers are burning 🤣🤣🤣
what is armata doing? still piecewise in factory? hehehe
not needed yet. nazis are losing everyday even without armata
yes, ruzzian nazi scum in meat grinder
slava ukraini & hail hootler from orlando florida!
nazis for biden …hoorah, hoorah
try learning some history. how come the ukrainian nazis are on vacation in florida, admitting to the media they support biden, served in azov and the media are trying to pass them off as trump supporters?
armata? hm … nuž tu na bojisku nie je vidno a zrejme ju ani tak ľahko neuvidíš. ale z iného dôvodu, ako si ty vôbec dokážeš predstaviť. je to z dôvodu, že jej použitie je možné zo vzdialeností cca 10 km!!! taký má dostrel.
having a tour of ukraine, if you had kept up.
do believe the tour is now over, but, they were sent to ukraine, earlier in the year.
the short life of western wonder weapons on the battlefield of russia’s smo defense should bring nato to face the realities of further escalation as russia is still holding back looking for a peaceful solution.
they’re holding back because the afu is about to crumble and turn on its leaders.
the leaders are pretty devious though. they’re betting by that time they can outrun cripples and 70 year old conscripts.
crispy xoxols on challengers, tank also burnt crispy
challengers are only good at firing at afghani farmers and even then, only half can hit a farmhouse.
@southernfront, can you get your information correct? ukraine did not repel russia in rabotino and russia control the height which makes the complete takeover of the village by ukraine impossible task without the height .
but that ukrop silly spokeswoman promised us that the ukies control rabotino and bakhmut and are already driving through melitopol.
how can you tell when a ukrainian is lying? if his lips move, it’s either that he’s lying or he wants to give you a bj for a loaf of bread or a new mansion in monaco.
this is war, there will be losses of all types of western weapons. the main thing is the ukrainians are a few kk from tokmak and once captured, they can cut off resupply and let the enemy starve in their trenches.
yes there will be western losses of weapons , of ukrainian useful idiots , of brainwashed mercenaries and nato stuff which was crazy enough to take part directly in war. the main thing is all these losses will lead to no success , there will be no soldiers and no equipment to defend the tiny gains of the last 3 months. the us will finally withdraw from ukraine (always the same) and all sacrifices will be in vain.
ha ha… dream on there buckaroo. the only thing ukrainians are cutting off is their dickies to keep from being conscripted.
if you look at history you’ll see that germany’s unternehmen frühlingserwachen also had a loss of lots of kit, ukraine is going the same way, when germany unternehmen frühlingserwachen ende the war in europe ended less then a month later.
a few kilometers from tokmak!? really!? in what parallel universe is this happening? after three months of offensive and 70,000 killed soldiers, the kiev junta has covered 10% of the distance to tokmak… that means, at this rate, it will reach tokmak in about 2 and a half years and will lose about half a million soldiers along the way! go ahead…
the thick brits have a cunning plan…….. the challenger 2’s are equipt with a ‘smart’ electro magnet that rebuilds the tank, rather like kids lego blocks………bae systems have a long history with its ‘cunning plans’.
more cunning than a cunning fox with an oxford degree in cunning
i heard that the ukies issued an order, to weld a block on all their tanks so the tankers can’t turn their turrets backward to surrender.
would be interested how it was taken out.
kornet took it out.
guess they figured they’d use a weapon about as old as the tank, just to play fair.
the one good thing about challenger2 is that can be used as firewood during freezing winter weather. it burns nicely.
when it starts to soften, an enterprising ukie trooper can forge some of the metal into nazi rune trinkets and sell them to trench rats for good luck.
i’ll buy some!
pekne horia. treba ich čím viac, nech majú s neho peknú vatru!!! západ padá na hubu!!! nič nezaberá na ruských vojakov. tí s prehľadom ničia všetko čo im západ pošle do cesty.
challenger2, uma verdadeira vergonha para a inglaterra e para o adúltero e promíscuo rei charles
a living room on tracks made for luxury wars.
first pirate coffin destroyed…time for celebrate🍾🍺::::hahahahhaha
that didn’t take long, did it? did it ever get a shot off before it popped its cork?
oooopa and why the uk government begged ukraine not to use it in battle, after the images of disabled leopards appeared in the media.
does anybody remember the cia head turning up in ukraine, a couple of weeks prior to odessa 2 may 2014. with allegedly a list of instructions? so why is blinken and the dutch politician visiting kiev this week? what have they got planned, to go with the meeting between president putin and xi and before the fema ebs on 4 october 2023?