Video Shows Abandoned Leopard Tank Stuck in Ditch Near Frontline

Footage shared on social media has purportedly shown an abandoned German-made tank that had been supplied to Ukraine.

Open-source intelligence monitor OSINT Defender tweeted the clip it said was of a Leopard 2A4 tank. It added that it looked like the vehicle had been "stuck in a ditch and was then abandoned somewhere near the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region."

After months of appeals from Kyiv, Germany said in January that it would provide Ukraine with 14 Leopards and allow allies to re-export the main battle tanks (MBTs) to Kyiv. The tanks are far more advanced than the Soviet-era analogues Ukraine mostly used. They are expected to add an extra dimension to battlefield capabilities of Kyiv's forces, which are conducting a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Russian occupied territory.

The 22-second video shared on Thursday was apparently filmed originally for TikTok from another unidentified military vehicle in which Ukrainian troops are seen.

"This footage is from Ukrainian soldiers so the tank likely has or will be recovered," added the tweet. In a follow-up message, OSINT Defender questioned how it got stuck in a ditch. "I'm thinking it may have been Immobilized in some way that we can't see, that's the only reason why I can think it was abandoned," it read.

Twitter account Sprinter shared the same video, writing that, according to military analysts and judging by the damage, the tank crew likely "ran into an anti-tank mine."

The video has not been independently verified, and Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian defense ministry for comment.

It comes days after drone video footage apparently showed a Russian artillery strike on a Ukrainian vehicle column, which knocked out at least one Leopard 2 tank. Russian social media channels showed a video of the tank, saying that it had been destroyed on June 8.

But Ukrainian war journalist Yurii Butusov said on Telegram that the tank was reparable, and no crew members had been killed in the incident. It reportedly occurred in the town of Novopokrovka—35 miles northwest of Zaporizhzhia city.

Ukraine had lost three Leopard 2A6s as of Thursday, according to the war monitor Oryx, which uses open sources to track losses on both sides in the war. Of these, one had been destroyed and two had been abandoned. The outlet also said that one Leopard 2A4 had also been destroyed.

Ukraine's allies have pledged 85 Leopard 2s, as well as other tanks such as the 31 M-1s from the U.S. and 130 Leopard 1s from Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.

Since the counteroffensive had started a week ago, data from Oryx shows that Ukraine had lost 16 Bradley fighting vehicles, which had been destroyed, damaged, or abandoned. The U.S. said on Tuesday that it would supply more of the vehicles as part of a $325 million aid package.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement that the U.S. and its allies "have made significant security assistance contributions to Ukraine so that they may continue to defend themselves from Russian aggression.

"As many senior U.S. government and defense officials have said many times, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the statement on Tuesday added.