The incident reportedly occurred in the Kharkiv region, where the tank, seemingly operating alone and not in coordination with other combat vehicles (as no other Ukrainian Armed Forces vehicles are visible in the footage), was engaging Russian positions. After being hit, the crew abandoned the damaged tank, leaving the hatches open. This could potentially allow for the deployment of a cheap, improvised bomb from a modified civilian drone – a tactic frequently used by both sides in the conflict and previously seen in the Syrian war – to be dropped directly into the tank, leading to its destruction.
Interestingly, this loss of the Leopard 1A5 type occurs just days after the first footage purportedly showing these tanks near the frontline was released. The tank in question is a Leopard 1A5, possibly the Danish variant (Leopard 1A5DK). Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands have declared the transfer of about 200 such tanks to Ukraine, with speculation also about possible transfers of ex-Belgian or Greek tanks, under a cooperative agreement. So far, Ukraine has likely received several dozen of these tanks, although the first batch, despite formally undergoing repairs, was reportedly rejected upon delivery due to unsatisfactory technical conditions.
