Russia ‘desperate’ to show it can take down ‘sophisticated’ Western tanks

Celebrations in the Russian military space over the destruction of a British Challenger 2 tank show a level of “desperation” as it comes up against advanced Western technology, a former special adviser to the US army said.

Mark Voyger told Sky News that though the loss of the battle tank is somewhat substantial, the most important thing is that the crew survived.

It demonstrates the “superiority of Western systems”, he said.

He said Russian propagandists have spread rumours that the country’s forces have destroyed far more Western-supplied tanks than they actually have.

Mr Voyger said Russia attempting to portray to its citizens that it’s capable of taking down “sophisticated systems” shows how “desperate” it is “in the face of several dozens of tanks from the UK and other countries”.

He added that the loss of the Challenger 2 shouldn’t be “dramatised”.