Jumpy Russians destroy agricultural machinery, fearing they are Leopard tanks
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Russia’s military appears to be so jumpy ahead of Ukraine’s long-expected counter-offensive that they’re destroying agricultural equipment, mistaking it for tanks.
Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed Russian invasion forces in Ukraine had destroyed German-made Leopard 2 tanks, but on Twitter on June 6 open-source intelligence (OSINT) revealed them to be just ordinary pieces of agricultural machinery.
Earlier, the Russian MoD claimed that its forces had eliminated 28 tanks, including eight Leopard 2 tanks, while repelling the Ukrainian counter-offensive. They even posted a video as evidence of their successful actions.
In the video, a Ka-52 helicopter is shooting at a moving target which is claimed to be a Leopard 2 tank in service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
A more detailed study of the video revealed that the targeting vehicle had large wobbly-web wheels. Most likely, it was a John Deere farm harvester, the OSINT community concluded.
"The vehicles targeted by an anti-tank guided missile from the Ka-52 not only don't resemble tanks, but are in fact innocent agricultural equipment – a sprayer and combines,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker user wrote on Twitter.
The Russian occupying troops are mentally drained by expecting an Ukrainian counter-offensive, head of the joint press center of the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, said on June 5.
The Ukrainian army is conducting limited offensive actions in some areas as part of its overall defensive operation, Duputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said, adding that details of such actions won’t be made public.
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