Russia's tank graveyards: Incredible images of mangled armoured vehicles dumped in streets and fields reveal the scale of Putin's military losses in Ukraine
- Drone images taken by Ukrainian intelligence 10 miles inside Russia show a huge Russian military scrapheap
- Previous satellite images show no military equipment dumped in the field before Putin accrued huge losses
- Ukraine claims it has destroyed 839 Kremlin tanks as Western officials said Russia is being 'ritually humiliated'
PUBLISHED: 19:27 AEST, 22 April 2022 | UPDATED: 19:27 AEST, 22 April 2022
Putin's devastating military losses are continuing to pile up as new satellite images reveal the scale of destruction wrought against Russian tanks.
Drone images have revealed huge graveyards of the charred and mangled military vehicles, with broken guns and howitzers also dumped in the field.
Ukrainian intelligence carried out reconnaissance flights over the embarrassing military scrapheap located ten miles inside Russia.
A previous satellite image taken on February 24 shows an untouched green field with no military equipment in view.
On March 17, only a few vehicles were dumped there, but now 57 destroyed military hardware is on the site at Golovchino village.
Among the damaged equipment are 17 tanks, seven self-propelled artillery guns including MSTA mobile howitzers, 2S3 Akatsiya guns, mechanised bridges, armoured fighting vehicles and two tank recovery vehicles, according to The Sun.
Drone images have revealed huge graveyards of the charred military vehicles, with broken guns and howitzers also dumped in the field
A previous satellite image taken on February 24 shows an untouched green field with no military equipment in view
Other footage taken this week in the horror town of Bucha showed at least a dozen destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles
A Ukrainian service member stands next to a damaged Russian tank T-72 BV, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region
Ukraine's Armed Forces claim they have destroyed 829 Russian tanks, 2,118 armoured personnel carriers and 393 artillery systems
The Ukrainian team commander said the haul of equipment had been taken to the village for repairs but it had been abandoned there.
It is believed they had been deployed to the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine before Putin ordered his humiliating retreat to focus on the Donbas in his botched invasion.
He said: 'All the Russian vehicles that come to Ukraine will end up in a place like this. It is a tank graveyard. A cemetery.'
Ukraine's Armed Forces claim they have destroyed 829 Russian tanks, 2,118 armoured personnel carriers and 393 artillery systems.
A Ukrainian intelligence source said: 'The fact these tanks have been left behind in Golovchino tells us they are no use to Russia.'
Sam Cranny-Evans, from the RUSI think-tank, added: 'They are positioned somewhat haphazardly, as you would expect for vehicles that are unable to move under their own power and that are in need of repair.'
A damaged Russian tank near a road in Zalisia village not far from Kyiv. Some cities and villages had recently been recaptured by the Ukrainian army from Russian forces
Western officials even said this week Putin's forces are being 'ritually humiliated' in Ukraine, but cautioned they are still in a position to win the war
Broken tanks and combat vehicles of the Russian invaders are seen near the village of Dmitrievka following the botched invasion
Poor tactical decisions have been preyed upon by Ukrainian fighters, who have used their anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry to great effect
Many of the Russian units now targeting the east of Ukraine and the Donbas region had not had time to properly reconstitute after receiving a mauling in the failed advance on Kyiv
Other footage taken this week in the horror town of Bucha showed at least a dozen destroyed tanks and armoured vehicles.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) also reported yesterday that the Russian military death toll had risen to 21,000.
Though Russia's armed forces outnumber their Ukrainian counterparts and have more equipment and machinery at their disposal, poor tactical decisions have been preyed upon by Ukrainian fighters, who have used their anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry to great effect.
Western officials even said this week Putin's forces are being 'ritually humiliated' in Ukraine, but cautioned they are still in a position to win the war.
Moscow's troops failed in their initial invasion objectives to seize Kyiv and install a puppet government, with Ukraine inflicting a series of humiliating defeats on them.
The turnaround has come after a general known as 'The Butcher', who is a veteran of the Syrian campaign, overhauled the performance of the Russian advance.
Destroyed vehicles and Russian tanks are seen in Irpin, a town near Kyiv that was recently liberated from Russian forces
Though Russia's armed forces outnumber their Ukrainian counterparts and have more equipment and machinery at their disposal, poor tactical decisions have been preyed upon by Ukrainian fighters
Moscow's troops failed in their initial invasion objectives to seize Kyiv and install a puppet government, with Ukraine inflicting a series of humiliating defeats on them
Western officials credited the reversal in Russia's fortunes to General Aleksandr Dvornikov, who was made overall commander a fortnight ago.
His takeover followed Russia's failure to seize any major cities, its retreat from Kyiv, and the loss of thousands of troops and hundreds of aircraft and tanks.
Since then its use of drones, rocket systems and electronic warfare has been transformed – potentially providing Putin with a platform to claim victory.
'This is a new chapter of the campaign and, despite his previous failures, Putin is still in a position to win,' an official said. 'Russia has concentrated sufficient force that if they use it intelligently they should be able to destroy a large part of Ukraine's forces.'
Officials now believe that with such a numerical advantage, and more effective leadership, the Russians will be difficult to dislodge from the territory they have won.
But they said that many of the Russian units now targeting the east of Ukraine and the Donbas region had not had time to properly reconstitute after receiving a mauling in the failed advance on Kyiv.
ian tank is blown to smithereens by a Ukrainian anti-tank guided missile fired from almost three miles away (R). Footage obtained today from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces shows how the tank is caught in the missile system's crosshairs (L) before it is destroyed
The missile blew the Soviet era T-72 tank to pieces, adding to the huge losses already sustained by Putin's armed forces (A man jumps from a Russian T-72 tank destroyed during Russia's invasion, in the village of Yahidne, Ukraine April 20, 2022)
As a result, they were being fed into the new phase of the war in a 'piecemeal' fashion with limited impact, taking 'relatively small amounts of terrain'.
Meanwhile, footage obtained yesterday shows a Russian tank being blown to smithereens by a Ukrainian anti-tank guided missile fired from almost three miles away.
The video from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade - a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces - shows how the tank is caught in the missile system's crosshairs before the projectile soars through the air and meets its target.
The brigade titled the video (in Ukrainian): 'Stugna against T-72: attackers of the 128th brigade destroyed a Russian tank with a Ukrainian missile from a distance of 4.5 km'.
It comes as separate footage emerged of a Russian Ka-53 attack helicopter being blown out of the sky over Zaporizhzhia by another Ukrainian man-portable missile system.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reported earlier today that the Russian military death toll had reached 21,000 personnel, with thousands of Putin's tanks, armoured vehicles and helicopters also scuppered.