One of Russia's most modern tanks met a dramatic end in southern Ukraine this week, as Russian and Ukrainian forces maneuvered for battlefield advantage with winter settling over the 600-mile frontline.
Drone footage published on a Telegram channel run by members of the Ukrainian Magyar Birds aerial reconnaissance unit showed the detonation of a T-72B3M main battle tank in the Kherson direction, purportedly near the settlement of Krynky along the banks of the Dnieper—or Dnipro in Ukrainian—river.
Newsweek was unable to independently verify the footage and has contacted the Russian defense ministry by email to request comment.
Fighting has been fierce along the lower reaches of the Dnieper in recent months, with Ukrainian forces establishing small, but significant, footholds on the Russian-held east bank of the waterway, which since November 2022 has served as the southern demarcation line between Moscow's and Kyiv's units.
Russia has proved unable to destroy the Ukrainian bridgeheads. There are believed to be hundreds of Ukrainian troops spread across three east-bank sites: Krynky, Pishchanivka and Poyma.
Kyiv's forces are within three miles of the M-14 highway, which connects all the major cities in southern Ukraine from Odesa in the west to Mariupol in the east. The road runs through Kherson and on to occupied Melitopol, following the Sea of Azov coastline to the Russian border.
Ukrainian troops fighting on the Dnieper's banks are also less than 50 miles from the entrance to the occupied Crimean Peninsula, the liberation of which remains a key objective for Kyiv.
Ivan Stupak—a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and now an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee—told Newsweek last month the M-14 is a "good objective," though suggested Ukrainian forces may wish to push all the way to the Black Sea port of Skadovsk, cutting off Russian forces defending the Kinburn Spit.
The limited success in Kherson comes amid the failure of Kyiv's main 2023 offensive effort to the east, where the long-awaited campaign in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts was quickly bogged down and largely defeated by formidable Russian defenses.
Ukraine has retained its Dnieper footholds, but it has not significantly expanded them. Political analyst Nikola Mikovic recently told Newsweek: "It is now perfectly clear that Ukraine's counteroffensive failed, but preserving control over Krynky allows Ukrainian authorities to continue creating an illusion that the situation on the left bank of the Dnieper River is under control."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
