Ukraine Video Shows Fiery M2 Bradley Chaingun Attack on Russian T-90M Tank

U.S.-donated Bradley fighting vehicles are successfully taking on Russia's advanced main battle tanks in hotspots of fighting in eastern Ukraine, new footage appears to show.

In a brief clip posted by Ukraine's Defense Ministry, what looks to be a U.S.-made Bradley fires repeatedly on a Russian T-90M tank with a 25mm chaingun, before the footage shows an explosion of sparks from the Russian tank.

The footage is attributed by open-source intelligence accounts to Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade operating around the village of Stepove, northwest of the embattled Donetsk town of Avdiivka. Geolocated footage from the past week suggests Russian forces advanced in Stepove in recent days, according to the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War.

Russian forces launched an offensive on Avdiivka in early October, attempting to encircle the fortified Ukrainian settlement by taking villages like Stepove.

It is not possible to independently verify the footage. A spokesperson for Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade told Newsweek that the footage did show a Bradley in action near Stepove. The Russian Defense Ministry has been approached for comment via email.

Western experts and Ukrainian fighters say the Bradleys have made a real difference along the front line, used exclusively by the 47th in some of the toughest battles of the 23 month-old war.

Russian soldiers in Moscow's tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are "afraid" to launch operations "when they know that a Bradley will be against them," Kach, a Ukrainian commander of the 47th Mechanized Brigade who goes by his call sign, told Newsweek earlier this month.

The 25mm chain gun on the Bradley is "tearing apart Russian armored columns," Daniel Rice, a former special adviser to Ukraine's lead commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, said at the time.

Ukraine has had Bradleys for a little under a year, and first used them operationally in the summer of 2023. The U.S. has sent 186 Bradley IFVs to Ukraine to date, plus four Bradley fire support team vehicles. Ukraine has likely been able to use between 100 and 120 in operations, with the rest utilized for parts or training and swapping in when one Bradley is taken out.

Russia has lauded its T-90M, also known as the Breakthrough tank. It is an upgraded version of the T-72, and is considered a competitor to the U.S. M1 Abrams. It has a more powerful engine, an upgraded turret and enhanced survivability, as well as multichannel sight to operate through the night, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

The T-90M Proryv "seems impressive, but Russian tanks always look good until they are actually used in combat," military technology and defense expert Michael Peck told Newsweek in March 2023.

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