A Russian drone-operator apparently named Vova, short for Vladimir, had a proverbial front-row seat as some lucky Russian infantry took a lucky shot at one of the Ukrainian army’s precious Leopard 2A6 tanks—and knocked it out.
Nearly two years into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, most tank kills result from one-two hits: first, a mine or explosives-laden drone immobilizes the vehicle. Then artillery, drones or both finish it off.
Mines and drones have accounted for most of the roughly 13 German-made Leopard 2s the Ukrainian army so far has lost, out of 71 it so far has received from its foreign allies.
But it apparently wasn’t mines, drones and artillery that immobilized then destroyed that Leopard 2A6 outside of Avdiivka apparently last week. As Vova watched through the camera of his hovering drone, a projectile lanced into the side of the 2000s-vintage tank, which has thicker armor and a longer, more powerful gun than older Leopard 2 variants have.
“I think the tank was hit by an RPG,” Vova mused on his radio channel. An RPG is a handheld rocket-propelled grenade: a weapon you have to get close to use. The best modern RPGs, with tandem warheads, are just powerful enough to knock out a tank—if they hit at the right angle.
To be sure, something struck the tank—and hard. The drone’s video feed depicts smoke and flames spreading from the tank. It quickly becomes clear: the Leopard 2 wasn’t just damaged, it likely was destroyed.
“The Leopard is fucked up!” Vova shouted. “The Leopard is fucked up for the first time!”
The distinction between damaged and destroyed really matters when it comes to a Leopard 2. The type is highly survivable. A mine or drone might immobilize a Leopard 2 without totally wrecking it. After months of experience with their German-made tanks, Ukrainian engineers are accustomed to recovering immobilized examples and shipping them off to Poland or Germany for repairs.
Photos and videos from the aftermath of the late-October strike seem to confirm that the Leopard 2A6—one of 21 that equipped the Ukrainian army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade in the weeks before the unit fired some of the first shots in Ukraine’s five-month-old southern counteroffensive—burned on the inside.
That points to a hit to the engine and fuel tanks from the side, where a tank’s armor is relatively thin. That hit sparked a fire that spread to the tank’s interior. For a tank packed with electronics and precision optics, a burned interior is fatal.
That Leopard 2A6 might be the 13th Leopard 2 Ukraine has lost. Worryingly for Kyiv, half those losses have occurred in just the last couple of weeks as the 47th Brigade redeployed from the south to the north to help defend Avdiivka from back-to-back-to-back Russian assaults while, at the same time, the Leopard 2A4-equipped 33rd Mechanized Brigade assumed a lead role in the southern counteroffensive.
Losing 13 Leopard 2s is bad for Ukraine, but context is important. Ukraine also has gotten 14 Challenger 2 tanks from the United Kingdom, 31 M-1 tanks from the United States and hundreds of T-72s and other Soviet-style tanks from its other allies. Fourteen fresh Leopard 2A4s and nearly 200 lightweight Leopard 1A5s are en route to Ukraine as replacements for combat losses.
Tanks aren’t Ukraine’s most urgent military need. Its shortages of well-protected infantry fighting vehicles, drones, air-defenses and artillery shells are much more problematic than is any tank-shortage.
One of drone-op Vladimir’s comrades seems to appreciate this fact. “Vova, save your voice,” he intoned over the radio as Vova shouted slurs at the Ukrainian Leopard 2A6 crew, which was in the process of bailing out of its burning vehicle. “There are still a lot of Leopards.”
That all four of the Leopard 2A6’s crew members escaped the lucky hit on their tank speaks to the fundamental soundness of the vehicle’s design. As Vova’s drone watched, one of the 47th Brigade’s American-made M-2 fighting vehicles speeded in, picked up the crew then speeded away.
“They took the tankers,” Vova moaned. “I lost sight of it.”
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