DAVID VS GOLIATH
Video shows brave Ukrainian vehicle take on more powerful Russian tank and WIN – as Putin has now lost 20,000 troops
THIS is the astonishing moment a Ukrainian armoured vehicle bravely takes on a vastly more powerful Russian tank in a ferocious firefight - and WINS.
The astounding video filmed from a drone appears to show a Ukrainian BTR-4 raining hell on the invaders' tank in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.
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The BTR-4 appears to unload a volley of rounds from its 30mm cannon causing severe damage to Putin's war machine - despite it having 40mm armour.
Rounds can be seen streaking through the air in the dramatic David and Goliath struggle.
And after pounding what is believed to be a Russian T-72 tank - a ferocious inferno engulfs and then obliterates it leaving the machine in tatters.
The humiliating scenes come despite Putin's battle tanks being fitted with 125mm cannons - more than FOUR TIMES the size of a BTR-4.
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Its main gun can fire armour-piercing shells and highly explosive rounds.
It can also launch AT-11 laser guided anti-tank missiles.
But the 44.5 tonne tanks are less mobile and quick to aim than nippy troop carriers like the BTR-4, whose cannons can rapid-fire.
The T-72 and other variants of it has seen extensive use on both sides in the war in the Donbas since 2014 and the Russo-Ukrainian.
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It is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969.
Latest estimates suggest Putin's savages have now lost an eyewatering 756 battle tanks since the war began on February 24.
That comes alongside estimates that Russia has lost an astonishing 20,000 men in just 50-days of war.
They have also seen 163 planes and 144 helicopters blasted out the sky above war ravaged Ukraine.
Russia's latest military humiliation comes as the Kremlin redeploys forces eastward after a disaster campaign to take the capital Kyiv.
REDEPLOYMENT
Putin is now focusing efforts in the Donbas region which has been gripped by war between government forces and pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Russia annexed Crimea the same year and recognize the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas.
Moscow now intends to forge a strategic corridor between Crimea and its own sovereign territory via the Donbas.
It means roads such as the one shown in the video will remain scenes of intense fighting for months to come.
It comes as the Russian military continues to move helicopters and other equipment together for such an effort, according to a senior U.S. defence official.
And worryingly it is likely to insert more ground combat units in the region once it has regrouped after shouldering massive losses.
But it's unclear precisely when Russia will launch a bigger offensive in the Donbas.
It comes as Russia's flagship Moskva was sunk after an extraordinary missile attack by the Ukrainians.
HUMILIATION
The ship - a 40-year-old symbol of Russian military might - was left a smouldering wreck after taking direct hits from two Neptune anti-ship missiles.
The ship later sunk as it was being towed to naval port Sevastopol in Crimea.
First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin, 44, was killed after the ship was hammered by the missiles, according to Kyiv sources.
It has been alleged that only around 50 of the crew are accounted for - having been picked up by a Turkish vessel.
While another 14 were reportedly flown to the port of Sevastopol, leaving around 450 whose fates remain a mystery.
Video from within in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners haven't come to collect them.
The sinking of the Soviet-era Moskva in the Black Sea prompted Russia to launch a furious retaliation, later claiming to have blitzed the factory which made the missiles that sunk their prized flagship.
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The defence ministry said it had rocketed the 'Vizar' plant on the edge of Kyiv on Thursday night which it says manufactures Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Russian Vladimir Putin, craving bloody revenge for the sinking, then ordered a brutal new bombing campaign promising more strikes against the Ukrainian capital.
In a statement, Russia defence ministry said: "The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime."
Strikes later rocked the capital Kyiv on Thursday night, according to Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko.
Social media videos have shown the sky above Kyiv lit up by countless explosions - they appear to be the most serious attacks since Russia retreated from the capital earlier this month.
While blasts were also heard in the southern city of Kherson, the eastern city of Kharkiv and in Ukraine's western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
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While Mariupol is expected to fall within hours following weeks of courageous struggle which saw the port city relentlessly shelled by Russian forces.
The city acts as the last key to the land bridge Russia are trying to forge - which will see them have huge access to the Black Sea.
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