Russian Tank Convoy Blown Up in Videos As Ukraine Fights Back Invasion

Video widely viewed on social media purports to show the remnants of a Russian tank convoy targeted by Kyiv-backed forces in Ukraine's east.

The clip, shared by Current Time TV on its Telegram account, shows smoke coming from one stationary tank stopped perpendicular to the road. Behind it, flames are seen coming out of another military vehicle, which the news outlet said was in the eastern city of Kharkiv.

The camera pans around and shows at least one dead soldier in the footage which is titled "A broken convoy of equipment and a dead soldier in Kharkiv."

Another camera angle shows damaged stationary military vehicles in footage which, as of Thursday afternoon, has more than 320,000 views. Other videos on social media show different destroyed vehicles and the dead soldier but Newsweek has not embedded them due to their graphic nature.

While its authenticity has not been confirmed by the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry, which Newsweek has contacted for comment, Kyiv has given updates of its fightback against Russian forces which invaded on Thursday.

The Ukraine Interior Ministry said one Russian K-52 helicopter and three helicopters near Gostomel had been shot down by Ukrainian forces in the Kyiv region near Mezhyhirya.

The press service of the Ukrainian joint forces operation said on its Facebook page that heavy fighting is ongoing for the Donbas towns of Shchastya and Stanytsia Luhanska.

According to a translation, the forces said that "Ukrainian units responded promptly" to the threat posed by Russian armed forces which "suffered heavy losses" and that Shchastya "is under the full control of the Ukrainian military."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had suffered "serious losses" in the initial stages of Russia's attack. One advisor said at least 40 people had been killed, Radio Free Europe reported, but other media outlets have put the casualty numbers higher.

Ian Johnson, assistant military history professor at the University of Notre Dame said that the death toll "in military and civilian lives could very well reach the tens of thousands."

"Putin's bloodiest international intervention to date—the 2014 invasion and occupation of Crimea—cost the lives of a few hundred Russian soldiers at most," he told Newsweek in an emailed statement. "In invading Ukraine, Putin has taken on far greater risk and costs."

"The political and economic costs will likely be staggering, too. In violating numerous treaties on the status of Ukraine and launching what appears to be the first major war of territorial aggrandizement in Europe since 1939, Putin risks turning the Russian Federation into an international pariah," he said.

Update 2/24/22, 10:33 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include details about fighting and comments by Ian Johnson, assistant military history professor at the University of Notre Dame