On April 11, horrific footage was shared online. The video shows how the tank is firing at close range at a group of soldiers. The exact reasons and circumstances of the shot are unclear, as well as the place of the incident.
The strike targeted a BMP on the side of the road, where the group was standing.
The tank was identified as a Russian one, presumably, T-72B3.
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Judging by the environment, the video was made in the Kiev, Chernihiv or Kharkiv region. The uniform of the dead soldiers is not typical for the uniform of the Russian Army. The Russian military does not have black bulletproof vests. The DPR and LPR forces were not deployed in these regions. Black vests are usually used by the press or volunteers, Ukrainian civilians of the so-called territorial defence or foreign mercenaries. One man in black can be seen filming an approaching tank.
Later, the consequences of the shot were reportedly shared by eyewitnesses. The footage confirms that the victims are Ukrainian servicemen, or members of the so-called territorial defence of the AFU, i.e. armed civilian volunteers.
This video of dead Ukrainian soldiers lying next to a Russian infantry fighting vehicle has not been published before.
The video was made by Ukrainians on one of the Ukrainians checkpoints. The man in jeans is seen on the video soon after the incident. The camera man was filming near a car which looked like a civilian one.
Highly likely this was a point of local territorial defence.
A little later, the video from the spot was voiced over and shared on the social media. The man with camera allegedly claims that this was a Russian tank. It is unclear who did the voiceover and for what purposes.
The footage was immediately used for propaganda purposes. The Ukrainian side claimed that Ukrainian soldiers captured a Russian tank and fired at the Russian military. In fact, rather the Russian crew hit a group of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, local defence or mercenaries. Or the crew of Ukrainian soldiers on a captured Russian tank hit a BMP with a Russian V sign on the road, not seeing clear signs of the local Ukrainian territorial defense of mercenaries or even confusing them with disguised Russian soldiers near the Russian vehicle.
