Reports claim that one of the Challenger 2 tanks donated to Kiev may have already been destroyed on Russian territory
The Ukrainian brigade operating British Challenger 2 main battle tanks is using them inside Russia’s Kursk region, Sky News reported on Thursday.
The UK government donated 14 of its main battle tanks and encouraged other NATO nations to provide their heavy weapons after the move was announced in January 2023. They were delivered to Ukraine’s 82nd Air Assault Brigade but were mostly kept in reserve after some were destroyed by Russian drones and artillery during Kiev’s attempted counteroffensive later that year.
The 82nd is one of the Ukrainian units currently taking part in the incursion into Russia. Sky News said the expeditionary force had deployed some of the Challenger 2 tanks, citing an unnamed source. The channel did not provide further details on the use of British armour on Russian soil.
On Wednesday, a Telegram channel focused on Russian military affairs claimed that a video of a drone attack on a Ukrainian tank previously released by another media outlet shows the destruction of a Challenger 2.
The footage was originally published last Sunday. allegedly shows a Lancet loitering ammunition strike near the town of Sheptukhovka in the Kursk region. The settlement was flagged at the time as being close to the active front line by Radio Free Europe, a US-funded news channel.
The US and its allies have claimed they had no prior knowledge of the Ukrainian offensive into Russia, but have expressed support for it and the use of its weapons. Britain’s Labour government stressed this week that its policy on donated weapons is no different from that of the former Conservative government.
Former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told The Times that he set the rules that allow Ukraine to hit targets inside Russia with anything it is given, with the exception of the long-range Storm Shadow missiles.
“If this [attacks on Russian targets] involved the use of British weapons, provided they were used in accordance with international law which had always been permitted,” he said of the approach reportedly established more than a year ago.
Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict a NATO proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainian soldiers serve as “cannon fodder.” The hostilities were triggered by the expansion of the US-led military bloc and its growing presence in Ukraine, Russian officials said.