A British military vehicle carrying missiles for Ukraine's armed forces was destroyed in a drone strike, according to a video shared on social media.
In April, the British government pledged to increase its spending on weapons for Ukraine, announcing a £500 million ($620 million) package in addition to a January pledge to provide £2.5 billion ($3.1 billion) worth of equipment this financial year.
On X, formerly Twitter, the account War Vehicle Tracker, which posts about equipment losses in Ukraine, shared a 48-second clip that first appeared on Telegram showing an aerial view of a vehicle in a field in an undisclosed location.
"It seems that Ukraine, after a longer time without AD Losses, lost a rare and expensive vehicle," the user captioned the video. "What we see here is I believe the Lancet [drone] Destruction of a British supplied SupaCat Truck carrying AIM-132 ASRAAM [Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile]."
It seems that Ukraine, after a longer time without AD Losses, lost a rare and expensive Vehicle.
— WarVehicleTracker (@WarVehicle) May 7, 2024
What we see here is I believe the Lancet Destruction of a British 🇬🇧-supplied SupaCat Truck carrying AIM-132 ASRAAM Missiles(as seen on Pic 2 and 3). pic.twitter.com/9jQwm9eIOI
The vehicle can be seen exploding from different angles in the clip, which has been viewed 129,000 times as of Wednesday morning.
Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment about the unverified and undated video.
The AIM-132 ASRAAM mounted on a Supacat chassis is one of the improvised British contributions for Ukraine's war effort and shows the adaptation of an air-launched missile for ground-based launchers, according to Army Recognition, a defense and security online magazine.
In October, the U.K. announced it would deliver ASRAAM systems to Ukraine, and they were first spotted in the daytime in February, following a previous sighting of their use against what are sometimes known as "kamikaze" drones.
The system is mostly intended to counter Russian drones and attack helicopters on the battlefield, protecting Ukrainian forces from aerial bombardments and assaults, Army Recognition said.
The U.K.'s pledge to increase its spending on weapons for Ukraine would see the supply of additional Storm Shadow strike missiles, air defense weapons, armored vehicles, drones, boats and 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition.
Overnight Tuesday, Russian forces launched cruise and ballistic missiles, rockets and Shahed-type drones and targeted energy infrastructure in the regions of Poltava, Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia, said Mykola Oleshchuk, Ukraine's air force commander.
Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK said three thermal power plants were damaged in the strikes, though Ukrainian forces managed to down 39 of 55 missiles and 20 of 21 drones fired overnight, according to Kyiv.
Another energy facility used by Russia was damaged following a suspected Ukrainian strike Tuesday after an oil depot in the Luhansk region was struck by Army Tactical Missile Systems, according to Leonid Pasechnik, the Moscow-installed head of the occupied Ukrainian region.
Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, often without directly claiming responsibility.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
