The mine-clearing vehicle that fires an explosive line charge was apparently captured from the Russians, and has now been turned against them.
A remarkable video from the war in Ukraine shows what is purportedly a Ukrainian-operated UR-77 Meteorit mine-clearing vehicle’s rocket-assisted line charge being used not to carve a path through a minefield but instead as a powerful offensive weapon against Russian troops in an urban setting. The Soviet-era Meteorit is a system that we’ve seen in use since the start of the war in Ukraine and it seems to have become increasingly popular as a type of ad-hoc artillery, in addition to its original combat engineer role.
The video in question appears to have been first posted to the Telegram messaging app, before being shared on Twitter. On the latter platform, user @Tendar provides the following description, claiming that the footage relates to the ongoing fighting for control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut:
“I reported yesterday that Russians got pushed back and behind the Korsunskogo Street in Bakhmut and here we have visual evidence, and what evidence indeed. A Ukrainian UR-77 fired right into Russian positions and triggered the charge which pulverized them.”
The video certainly appears to directly support at least some of that description, although we can’t say for sure exactly when it originates from, or if it was operated by Russian or Ukrainian forces.
This is one hell of a cockroach killer.
Outstanding repurposing!!!
Leave it up to the brilliant Ukrainians!