Ukraine Ministry of Defense/79th Air Assault Brigade/Insider
- Ukraine's defense ministry says eight Russian armored vehicles lie smoldering thanks to one soldier.
- Ukraine says the soldier took out five tanks and three other vehicles in a single day in Donetsk.
- A social-media post about the apparent feat included praise for US-provided Javelin missiles.
Equipped with US-provided Javelin missiles, one Ukrainian soldier took out five Russian tanks in a single day, Ukrainian authorities say.
The feat took place during a major Russian armored assault on Ukraine's 79th Air Assault Brigade outside of Marinka, just west of the city of Donetsk, a social-media post by the brigade said.
The post said that during the fighting, the paratrooper took out the five tanks as well as three infantry fighting vehicles known as BMPs by constantly switching up his position.
It said that supporting artillery destroyed a further four BMPs.
A video posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense appeared to show the tank strikes:
—Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 28, 2023
Since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022, the US has supplied Ukraine with about 8,500 Javelin missiles — a powerful shoulder-mounted portable anti-tank weapon. They've become a key part of Ukraine's defense.
The Ukrainian defense ministry's video post was accompanied by text that said, "American weapon in Ukrainian hands works wonders."
Marinka, about 13 miles west of Donetsk, has been subjected to repeated assaults by Russian forces and today lies largely in ruins.
The Ukrainian posts showing footage of strikes did not make clear when they took place, but they came amid reports of Russian forces trying to advance around Marinka as part of a wider objective to control the region.
The Russian news outlet Readovka reported on fighting around Marinka on Monday, saying Russian forces had fortified their positions in the south of the city. It made no mention of losses.
Insider was unable to independently verify the tank claims, but one still from the footage posted by the Ukraine defense ministry appeared to show two distinctive hill formations resembling those that appear in and around Marinka when viewed in Google Earth.
Ukraine Ministry of Defense/Google Earth/Insider
Such strikes would put further pressure on Russia's supply of tanks — a recent report from The Economist described its demand for tanks as outstripping supply by a factor of 10.
The open-source intelligence platform Oryx has estimated that Russia is losing about 150 tanks a month, while the Economist report said its sole factory producing them could make only 20 in that time.