On the eastern edge of Selidovo, a city in eastern Ukraine, south of Pokrovsk - a key Ukrainian stronghold - there is an underpass , which quickly became the center of fierce fighting in the city, writes Forbes.
"Focus" presents a translation of the material without editorial intervention.
On Wednesday (September 4), a pair of Russian armored vehicles mowed down their infantry in the underpass - and were immediately blasted by a Ukrainian T-64 tank firing from just a few meters away. A day later (September 5), the crew of a similar Ukrainian tank - or perhaps even the same one - carried out a daring attack in the same underpass.
Tankmen discover an abandoned Russian T-72 tank - and steal it.
This is not the first time Ukrainian forces have captured an intact but abandoned Russian T-72. In April, Ukrainian troops from the 12th "Azov" brigade conducted a three-day operation to replace the batteries of a disabled T-72 and get it across eastern no-man's land to safe Ukrainian lines around Terni.
What is special about Thursday's theft is that it was carried out mostly under armored vehicles. Selidovo is now an extremely dangerous place as the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army is closing in to encircle Pokrovsk. Therefore, the Ukrainian tankers hijack the T-72, using their own T-64 as a tug.
Unmanned aircraft from the brigade "Kara-Dag" of the Ukrainian National Guard watched as this T-72 rolled into the underpass on Thursday and took refuge in the debris from Wednesday's firefight at the same location.
The reinforced and camouflaged Russian tank fired at least one 125 mm shell at something to the north. And then, shockingly, the three crew members get out of the 46-ton tank. At least one Ukrainian drone with a first-person view is targeting the fleeing Russian tankers.
It is unclear why the Russians abandoned their undamaged T-72. It is possible that the machine has suffered some kind of mechanical failure - perhaps an engine problem. In any case, the tank was a spectacular prize for whoever was brave enough to restore it. In the April robbery, the sheer density of landmines made no man's land extremely dangerous for armored vehicles on either side: it was safer, if hardly safe, to rebuild.
But mines are obviously less of a threat in Selidovo. The 42-ton T-64s of the "Kara-Dag" brigade roam the city with unusual freedom, even in broad daylight - perhaps compensating for the extreme shortage of infantry that has plagued the entire Ukrainian army in recent months.
The three-man crew of the T-64 spots the unoccupied Russian T-72 and springs into action. The drone continued to watch as the Ukrainians attached a tow rope to the T-72 under the cover of a smoke screen. Published by brigade "Kara-Dag" footage ends with the T-64 towing the T-72 to the west - towards the main Ukrainian line.
The loss of one tank will not doom Russia's 11-month offensive along the axis from Avdeevka to Pokrovsk. Likewise, the Ukrainians getting one tank will not save Pokrovsk or the surrounding towns from being destroyed and taken over by the Russian field army, which is four times the size of the local Ukrainian garrison.
But still, the seizure of the tank on Thursday is a victory for Ukraine. Perhaps most importantly, it's a morale booster — a demonstration of the courage and ingenuity Ukrainians will need to ultimately win the ongoing battle for Pokrovsk.