World
US Bradley and Russian APC in head-on close combat firefight: Ukraine video
- A war video appears to show a US-supplied M2 Bradley and a Russian personnel carrier fighting at close range.
- The video is believed to have been taken in the Donetsk region.
- The US has provided Ukraine with over 300 Bradley vehicles since Russia’s invasion began.
A new war video released by Ukraine appears to show a US-supplied M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle shooting at a Russian armored personnel carrier at point-blank range.
The two vehicles race toward each other at high speed on a country road and launch continuous fire. At one moment, they come within a few feet of one another, narrowly avoiding collision. Soldiers are seen falling from the Russian armored car before it swerves off the road and appears to come to a stop, smoke billowing from its rear.
A caption accompanying the video reads: “The soldiers of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade are holding back at least three Russian combat brigades. With huge manpower reserves, the Muscovites are quickly replenishing their heavy losses and throwing them back into battle. The fighting does not stop for a moment.”
The Ukrainian military website Militarnyi reports that the Russian vehicle was a BTR-82A, built with a 30mm machine gun.
Business Insider could not independently verify where or when the video was taken.
DeepState, a Telegram analytics channel that tracks battlefield events, said the video was taken on the eastern outskirts of the village of Sokil in Ukraine’s Donetsk oblast, not far from Chasiv Yar.
The channel stated that, according to the brigade’s spokesperson, the Russian APC “subsequently exploded on mines laid by Ukraine’s Defence Forces.”
This is the second video in as many weeks in which Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Bridge has demonstrated what Bradley’s Bushmaster M242 25mm automatic cannon can do in close combat.
The first, published on June 2, appeared to show a Bradley firing at two Russian personnel carriers. Russian soldiers can be seen dismounting and fleeing the vehicles.
The US State Department has provided Ukraine with “more than 300 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles” since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.
The Bradley IFV is an armored vehicle used for transporting troops and providing fire support. It is also sometimes used for reconnaissance missions.
The Bradley is quick and highly maneuverable. It is operated by a three-person crew consisting of a driver, the commander, and a gunner and can carry up to half a dozen fully equipped soldiers.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder previously told reporters at a briefing that the Bradley is “not a tank, but it’s a tank killer.”