The Division of Protection mentioned it may’t corroborate the demise of at the very least 16 M2 Bradley autos in Ukraine
The US navy has refused to verify the destruction of American-made armored autos throughout Ukraine’s counteroffensive in opposition to Russia. The assertion got here after Moscow launched movies of charred M2 Bradley infantry combating autos deserted by Kiev’s troops.
“I’ve seen the studies however I can’t corroborate a few of the video and imagery popping out of that,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh advised reporters on Tuesday. “I simply wouldn’t have the ability to affirm the studies .. at the very least what we’re seeing from [the] Russians.”
Tuesday’s announcement that the US might be sending extra Bradley and Stryker armored autos to Kiev – as a part of a $325 million bundle drawn from the Pentagon stockpiles – was not a response to battlefield losses however deliberate prematurely, Singh insisted.
“One thing that went into our calculations once we supplied this tools to the Ukrainians is that there could possibly be battlefield losses and damages because the battle continues,” she mentioned.
Final month, the Pentagon and the State Division dismissed photograph and video proof of US-supplied tools being utilized by Ukraine to assault Russia’s Belgorod Area as “fuzzy photos on social media.”
The primary photographs of the destroyed Bradleys emerged on June 9, exhibiting tools later recognized as belonging to Ukraine’s forty seventh Separate Mechanized Brigade. Along with a number of Bradleys, the images and movies confirmed a knocked-out German-made Leopard 2 tank. A brand new video surfaced on Tuesday, exhibiting Russian troopers recovering the Western-made armor.
In keeping with the Dutch-based weapons-tracking web site Oryx, Ukraine misplaced 4 common and three mine-clearing Leopard 2s, in addition to 16 Bradleys.
Russian President Vladimir Putin advised a bunch of Russian battle correspondents on Tuesday that Ukraine misplaced “at the very least 160 tanks and 360 armored autos” throughout its current counteroffensive.
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