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The Russian military has destroyed yet another American-made M1A1 SA Abrams main battle tank of Kiev forces while advancing to the northwest of the city of Avdeevka in the Donetsk direction.
The tank was first disabled by an FPV suicide drone at night then finished off by a second drone in the morning, according to a video posted to social networks on June 11. Another video that surfaced online on June 12 showed fire in the rear of the tank’s turret where the ammunition storage and the auxiliary power unit are located.
Ukraine received 31 Abrams from the United States over the past year. Russian media sources claim that more than a third of the tanks have already been destroyed or damaged. All the losses were near Avdeevka.
The total cost of the Abrams can vary, and can be over $10 million per a single tank when including training and sustainment.
Ukraine withdrew all Abrams tanks from the front earlier this year as the result of the excessive use of drones by the Russian military, which made it too difficult for the tanks to operate without detection or coming under attack, according to The Associated Press. However, the rapid advance of the Russian military near Avdeevka forced Kiev forces to redeploy the tanks.
A recent report by CNN acknowledged that the tank performed poorly in Ukraine and revealed that Kiev forces have been struggling just to keep their remaining Abrams operational.
The failure of the Abrams in Ukraine was not surprising as the tank suffered serious losses in Iraq and Yemen before. However, this failure was without a doubt embarrassing for both the U.S. and the Kiev regime who promoted the tank as a game changing weapon.
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