Russian soldiers operating the tank were killed.
Ukrainian armed forces on Tuesday shared a video meme of a so-called “kamikaze” neutralising a Russian tank. Taking to social media, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces shared a 44-second clip that showed an overview of a Russian position.
“A modern kamikaze drone, equipped with a powerful explosive, flew straight into the tank, causing irreparable damage to the enemy,” Ukrainian forces said in the Facebook post. It also added that Russian forces were quietly drinking alcohol at one of the positions, sitting on the armour of their tank, when the kamikaze drone was dropped from the air.
Watch the video below:
#Ukraine: Ukrainian SSO (SOF) published rare footage of a kamikaze drone in action, which we identied as a US-supplied Switchblade 300 – hitting a Russian T-72B3 tank with its crew on top.
The tank is unlikely to receive any serious damage, which cannot be said about the crew. pic.twitter.com/sRm5GQNRyL— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 24, 2022
According to the Independent, this is the first time Ukrainian officials released a video of the US-supplied Switchblade drone in action.
The video features Star Wars theme music and the theme song from the American sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm. It shows the Russian tank erupting into a fireball. A thick plume of smoke is seen emanating from the tank. Then the footage pivots to a point-of-view angle showing the scene from the drone’s perspective as it barrels downward toward the Russian tank.
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A green square can be seen in the middle of the video, fixed on the tank and the Russian soldiers sitting atop the armoured vehicle, indicating the drone’s target. In the end, the screen goes dark right before the drone hits the tank.
In the caption, the Ukrainian forces said that the clip was captured by a camera on the drone. It added that the Russian soldiers operating the tank were killed.
It is to mention that the Swictable drones are among the lethal-aid items given by the US to Ukraine as part of the security-assistance package. “This is a good example of how the help of foreign partners together with the training and professionalism of our soldiers give positive results at the front,” the social media post added.
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Meanwhile, as per Independent, the Switchable drones act as munitions packed with explosives that detonate on contact during an airborne attack. They have been dubbed “kamikaze drones” – a reference to the tactic employed by Japanese pilots in World War II of loading up warplanes with explosives and flying them directly into Allied warships.