Russian media are publishing footage of the inspection of a hit and abandoned US-made M88A1 Hercules Armoured Recovery Vehicle (ARV) previously supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
The M88A1 Hercules was left by the railway tracks near the village of Stepove, north of Avdiivka, according to media reports. The vehicle was a modification of the M88 Recovery Vehicle, one of the largest ARVs in use by the US Armed Forces.
An armoured recovery vehicle is usually a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair during combat. ARVs are also deployed to repair battle-damaged, stuck and/or inoperable armoured combat vehicles, such as tanks or APCs.
The Hercules allegedly belonged to the 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the AFU operating in the Avdiivka area. Ukrainian troops left Avdiivka in mid-February to take “more favourable positions”, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the AFU, reported at the time.
Previous losses
Previously, the 47th Brigade also lost three US-made Abrams tanks, triggering a drop in shares of US manufacturer General Dynamics.
The first Abrams was incinerated with a Russian Piranha-10 FPV drone. The tank was reportedly targeted by a “kamikaze” drone and suffered at least one hit from a mobile anti-tank grenade launcher. Russian infantry hit a tread of the second tank with a grenade launcher and Ghoul FPV drones in the village of Berdychy near Avdiivka.
US approved new aid package
After months of delays, the US House of Representatives has finally approved $95bn in desperately needed military aid to Ukraine. However, more than a third of the total amount, $23.2bn, would be allocated to replenish US stockpiles, with only $13.8bn earmarked for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.
$11.3bn will be spent on “ongoing US military operations in the region”, with another $7.9bn allocated to keeping the Ukrainian government operational.
Seized for military examination
Meanwhile, the media are publishing footage of Russian troops transporting military equipment, given to Ukraine by allied countries, to the rear. On 22 April, footage of a German-made Ukrainian Leopard 2A6 taken to the Russian rear appeared on the Internet.
At the end of March, the media released pictures of a German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) taken during a counterattack by Ukrainian troops near the town of Pivnichne, 6 km west of Avdiivka.
Before that, in late February, Russian media reported footage of an AFU’s US-made M2 Bradley IFV seized by the Russian military in the combat zone and handed over to military specialists.
