With Defeat Nearing In Myrnohrad, Ukraine Loses First Australian Abrams Close To Pokrovsk (Videos)

File image.

Ukraine lost the first of over 40 American-made M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks it recently received from Australia close to the city of Pokrovsk, as it inches closer towards a catastrophic defeat in the nearby city of Myrnohrad in the Donetsk direction.

The tank was destroyed by the Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies “Rubicon,” which said in a post to Telegram that it received support from the 76th Guards Air Assault Division of the Russian military’s Tsentr [Center] Group of Forces.

Footage released by Rubicon shows the tank abandoned and on fire after being targeted with multiple first-person view suicide drones.

The loss took place on December 20, just a day after Australia announced that it had delivered all 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks it committed to provide to Ukraine.

The tanks are of the M1A1 AIM v.1 version, which keeps the same 120 mm L/44 M256 smoothbore gun and the Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine engine, but features several upgrades.

These upgrades include a Forward-Looking InfraRed, or FLIR, and Far Target Locate sensors, a tank-infantry phone, communications gear, including FBCB2 and Blue Force Tracking to aid in crew situational awareness, and a thermal sight for the .50 caliber machine gun.

This version is not, however, equipped with the depleted uranium armor, which remains exclusive to the tanks in service with the United States military.

The tank destroyed near Pokrovsk was further upgraded by Kiev forces with Soviet-era Kontakt-1 explosive reactive armor blocks and an anti-drone net.

It was distinguished as being among the ones recently supplied by Austria – not a part of a batch of 31 M1A1 SA delivered way before directly by the U.S. – thanks to its Australian Disruptive Pattern Camouflage, AusCam, paint scheme, which features black, olive drab, and brown color.

The deployment of these tanks near Pokrovsk shows that Ukraine is throwing everything it has there in a desperate attempt to avoid a defeat.

This strategy is not working, however. On December 22, the Tsentr Group of Forces took control of a new section of the trench north of Pokrovsk, tightening its siege on Myrnohrad, which is reported to be 95% under control.

In addition, Russian troops cleared the Brianka district, next to Veselyi, in the northern part of Myrnohrad. A very small Ukrainian pocket remains in that part of the city, as well as in the southeastern part. Troops besieged three are receiving limited supplies via drones sometimes. Any breakthrough attempt is swiftly thwarted by the drone units of the Tsentr Group of Forces.

The Russian military will likely capture Myrnohrad within a few weeks, if not days. Ukraine’s attempt to hold onto the city makes no sense.

Once Myrnohrad is secured, the Tsentr Group of Forces will likely begin advancing north towards Dobropillya, a key logistics and command hub of Kiev forces. With Ukraine deploying its best units and equipment around Pokrovsk, the battle will not be easy. A defeat there would be, however, even worse for Kiev, which appears to be playing all-in in this direction.

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