Drone video release by the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine shows the destruction of an abandoned disabled Russian BMP in the town of Mykilske in the Donetsk region.

For some reason, I keep having to inform people about the exploitation phase of combat. When you're watching a drone drop a grenade into the open hatch of a seemingly abandoned piece of armor, that's not the crew leaving their hatch open and inviting a grenade to be dropped inside of the vehicle they're currently occupying. That's the destruction of an abandoned disabled piece of equipment.

On the inside of these vehicles there are miles of cable making it so hundreds of individual electronic components can work together in concert to make the vehicle operate. You target this with a hand grenade to ensure that the disabled vehicle stays disabled. Otherwise, it's very easy for enemy forces to reclaim a disabled piece of armor and get it back in operations with simple repairs to core components like the engine or, wheels, or tracks.

Destroying the electronics on the inside doesn't prevent the enemy from recovering the vehicle, but it does however prevent the enemy from wholesale replacing one part and shipping it back to the front-lines a week later.

So, as much as the comments section wants this to be a careless Russian BMP crew getting themselves killed because they left a hatch open, that's not the case. The crew probably abandoned this vehicle hours or even days prior to this video being recorded. This is just the Ukrainians ensuring that the vehicle remains disabled.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com