Russian drone footage shows a disastrous outcome for a Ukrainian armored advance as a Russian mine immobilizes a Ukrainian BMP, and suddenly multiple anti tank guided missiles destroy most of the vehicles within seconds.

The incident reportedly occurred on or around July 27, 2023 and was geolocated to just east of the contested town of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region. While the brutal imagery is being used by pro Russian media outlets as a demonstrated Ukrainian failure, the battle actually happened much further south into Russian-held territory than any previous Ukrainian push.

Additionally, geolocated footage has shown that the Ukrainians have driven the Russian forces back to the main Surovikin defensive line east of Robotyne. So, while Ukrainian forces are certainly taking heavy losses as they grind out their counteroffensive operations, they are also making significant forward gains. The fate of the counteroffensive is still very much up in the air, regardless of how either side spins the information.

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Will Killmore

Will Killmore is a US Army combat infantry veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He has deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Following his time in service, he successfully pursued a certificate of journalism and has been a blogger for Funker530 since 2014. Follow Will’s bad takes on Twitter