Ukraine's fleet of tough mine-resistant armored vehicles can withstand explosions and deadly ambushes carried out by Russian forces, but one recently met a threat it couldn't quite beat when it was strangely run over by a friendly tank.
A new video circulating on social media this week shows an unusual scene. In the video, viewers can see the results after a Ukrainian T-72 tank backed over and seemingly crushed the front of an armored mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP, which open-source intelligence channels following the war identified as a International M1224 MaxxPro.
The footage, apparently filmed by Ukrainian soldiers and published to Twitter by open-source intel accounts, shows the T-72 positioned on the front of the MaxxPro at around a 45-degree angle with its main gun touching the ground and rear hoisted several feet into the air. Ukrainian troops can be seen surveying the collision, and at least one soldier climbs on top of the MaxxPro for a closer look.
This new video of the aftermath provides a ground-level view to complement aerial footage from last week that captured the T-72 pushing back the MaxxPro as it appears to attempt to avoid a Russian drone strike. At one point, a small explosion can be seen around the tank's right side. The munition was identified by The War Zone as a Russian Lancet loitering munition.
Under fire, the T-72 continues to push back the MaxxPro through the ensuing smoke.
In the next scene, the aerial footage shows the T-72 back up onto the MaxxPro, at which point at least two individuals appear to flee the vehicle.
It's not immediately clear where, exactly, the incident occurred or why, as details are limited, though some channels have suggested this occurred somewhere near the front line in the southwestern Donetsk region.
Ukraine is executing counteroffensive operations in several directions along a front line that's hundreds of miles long and stretches across the country's eastern and southern regions. Ahead of the offensive, Kyiv's forces received a mountain of Western heavy armor - like tanks and infantry fighting vehicles - to support its assault. Among the weapons it received were American-made MaxxPros.
Built primarily by US defense firm Navistar Defense, these mine-resistant vehicles have a V-shaped hull to designed to survive blasts from IEDs - or improvised explosive devices - and are built to withstand fire from rocket-propelled grenades. The US has outfitted Ukraine with several hundred MaxxPro vehicles.
According to the open-source intelligence site Oryx, which tracks Russian and Ukrainian equipment and weaponry losses, Kyiv's troops have seen 41 MaxxPro vehicles either destroyed, damaged, captured, or abandoned.