Putin unleashes his ‘Terminator’ tanks
RUSSIA’S much-feared ‘Terminator tanks’ have been deployed inside Ukraine for the first time, it was claimed yesterday.
Videos showed the heavily armed armoured vehicles in the Donbas region, where much of the fighting is now centred.
The Terminators – named for their lethal array of weapons – were seen massing near the Ukrainian border in February.
However they had not previously been deployed on Ukrainian soil. Russian media reported that ‘a platoon of Terminator tank support vehicles was used for the first time in battle in the Donbas’. The vehicles – technically not tanks – were seen near Severodonetsk, where they were said to have destroyed Ukrainian positions.
They are equipped with anti-tank missile launchers, grenades, auto cannon and machine guns, and were made to support tanks in urban areas. It remains unclear why Putin has waited until now to deploy them in Ukraine.
Russia lost a significant amount of tanks to the Ukrainians in the early stages of the war, and Ukraine has now claimed to have used Britishmade Brimstone missiles to destroy more invading tanks. The Terminators are equipped with highly effective ‘Relikt’ explosive reactive armour – which sends a blast outwards when hit to limit damage. O A retired Russian colonel yesterday said claims of Ukrainian counterattacks are ‘exaggerated’, just two days after denouncing Putin’s invasion on state TV. Mikhail Khodarenok’s second televised appearance came after he previously warned ‘virtually the entire world is against us’.
Yesterday Khodarenok appeared to have been reminded of the Kremlin line, insisting: ‘When people talk about Ukraine acquiring the ability to counterattack, well it’s a big exaggeration.’