A Challenger 2 tank, the main battle tank of the British Armed Forces, has reportedly been disabled in battle during Ukraine’s counter-offensive against the Russians, marking the first time the tank has been defeated in battle in its nearly 30-year history.
Video of the destroyed Challenger 2—one of the 14 given to Ukraine—was spread on social media earlier this week, alongside claims that the tank had been disabled by a mine, causing an explosion at the rear fuel tank. The Ukrainian crew then evacuated the vehicle before Russian forces hit it with a Lancet drone, finishing it off and destroying it, the BBC reported.
UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps later confirmed that the Challenger 2 had been destroyed, telling broadcaster Sky News, “It may be the first loss, as far as we’re aware … We gifted 14 of these Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. We accept that in the war zone, there can be material losses.”
Shapps went on to add that the United Kingdom had no current plans to replace the lost tank, which was allegedly destroyed near the town of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region where Ukraine has been focusing much of its counter-offensive operations against Russian forces over the summer.
The tank is said to have been attached to the 82nd air assault brigade of Ukraine, which has been involved in conflict in Zaporizhzhia since August in the area where Ukraine claims to have pierced the first line of defence set up by the Russians, known colloquially as the Surovikin line.
The Defence Secretary also claimed that the tank had been targeted by Russian artillery, rather than a mine, and added that the tank had been hit a second time while the crew was attempting to put out a fire.
Earlier this year, some predicted that the arrival of the Challenger 2 tanks on the battlefield in Ukraine would be a major game changer in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Writing in the Telegraph newspaper in June, Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former Commanding Officer of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, boasted that the Russian armed forces were unprepared for the arrival of the UK’s main battle tank.
“The Challenger and Leopard tanks leading the spearhead vastly outmatch what’s left of Russia’s heavy armour, while sophisticated precision artillery is providing withering fire for the advance,” he wrote.
The German-made Leopard II tanks have also been deployed on the battlefield, with at least five of their 71 Leopard IIs having already been destroyed, although some Russian Defence Ministry sources put the number much higher, claiming in July that at least 16 Leopard II tanks had been destroyed.
Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon went on to claim
What’s unfolding in Ukraine now could go down in history as one of the great tank actions, alongside Cambrai, Kursk and the Arras counterattack. It will certainly go down as the end of Moscow’s illegal invasion—and perhaps the beginning of the end of Putin.”
However, dramatic gains against Russian forces have simply refused to manifest since the counter-offensive began in June.
Late last month, four-star Austrian general and chair of the European Union’s Military Committee (EUMC) General Robert Brieger admitted that the counter-offensive was not producing the results needed to achieve Ukraine’s goal of cutting off Russian forces from Crimea from reaching the Azov Sea.
Last Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov would be removed from his post and while Zelensky claimed the matter was linked to the misappropriation of Western military aid, although the move may be in part due to the lacklustre counter-offensive.
So far, Ukraine has deployed many of the advanced weapons systems given to it by the West but has yet to deploy the American-made Abrams M-1, the main battle tank of the United States, with the delivery of M-1 tanks expected to start this month.
However, the U.S. is sending Ukraine the M1A1 version of the tank, rather than the newer A2 version. Six to eight tanks are expected to be delivered to Ukrainian forces initially, with 31 tanks being sent overall.
Whether the arrival of the American tanks, considered by some among the best in the world, will play a key role in Ukraine’s offensive against Russian defences remains to be seen.
