Ukrainian forces deliver significant blow to Russian armour near Avdiivka
In the Avdiivka area, heavy fighting is still ongoing, leading to significant losses for the Russians. Ukrainian soldiers from the Third Assault Brigade have eliminated over 100 of Putin's army soldiers and dozens of enemy armoured vehicles just last week. We will present the weapons lost by the Russians.
"In the direction of Avdiivka, the enemy does not cease in attempts of attacks and continues to assault Ukrainian front positions. The task of the Third Assault Brigade is to destroy them to the maximum" - was written in a short message summarizing the actions of this unit from 17 March to 24 March.
Russian equipment destroyed near Avdiivka
Among the destroyed Russian equipment, primarily two T-80 tanks, an armoured personnel carrier BMP-3, and unmanned aerial vehicles - Lancet, as well as the much less frequently encountered on the front SuperCam were listed. In addition, self-propelled artillery guns (probably 2S9 Nona-S) and several trucks were damaged.
The two lost T-80 tanks join a very long list of tanks that Ukrainians have managed to eliminate in this area since the beginning of the conflict.
In February of this year, British intelligence reported that, based on its estimates, the Russians lost under Avdiivka at least 400 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other armoured equipment. It can be assumed that the number is even higher now, as there are systematic reports of further documented losses of the invaders.
T-80 tanks in the Russian Army service
The T-80 is a third-generation main battle tank. After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian army had about 4,500 of these machines in various versions.
What distinguishes T-80 tanks from most other Russian ones is the propulsion in the form of a gas turbine. It has a power of either 1,340 or 1,675 horsepower, depending on the version, allowing the construction weighing over 40 tonnes to accelerate to about 60 km/h (approximately 37 mph).
The armament here is a 125 mm cannon. Moreover, T-80 tanks were equipped with 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm machine guns. Some of the newer versions of the T-80 have features like the electronic defence system Shtora or Arena, advanced fire control systems, or Kontakt-5 reactive armour.
