Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The unit behind the operation claims to have taken out more than 2,400 Russian tanks during the war.
A Ukrainian drone team recently tracked down and eliminated three heavy Russian tanks buried deep inside occupied territory.
The operation was revealed by Lasar’s Group, a specialized unmanned systems unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in a video posted on Facebook, the unit showed how it all went down.
The location was far back, as the armored vehicles sat roughly 40 miles behind active combat lines in the strategic Oleksandrivka sector.
Russian troops had taken extensive extra steps to protect their armor from aerial eyes. They partially buried the tanks in the ground and built specialized anti-drone shelters directly over each vehicle.
It did not work.
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40-mile trip
Even with those heavy earthworks, nearby Ukrainian frontline units spotted the hidden concentration during routine aerial surveys.
Analysts verified the coordinates. Lasar’s Group was called in to act.
Once the positions were confirmed, long-range strike craft launched deep into Russian-held airspace. The drones traveled the full 40-mile distance without detection.
Flying over the dug-in bunkers, the aircraft systematically destroyed all three tanks one after another before crew members could react.
Beyond the front
According to United24 Media and Defense Express, all three vehicles were completely destroyed before Russian forces had any chance to deploy them in combat.
Heavy tanks are now a rare sight near the front line. Lasar’s Group claims its drone crews have destroyed more than 2,400 Russian tanks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
“We can now destroy more tanks on our own than the Russians produce,” Lasar’s Group said in an official statement alongside the video.
Unmanned aerial strikes continue to press Russian forces across other sectors of the battlefield as well. United24 Media reported last week that another Ukrainian drone team, Signum, recently released footage showing precision strikes against Russian infantry moving on motorcycles in the Lyman sector.
