The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released new footage showing the 80th Air Assault Brigade destroying a Russian tank, on the same day that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed multiple bills into law intended to strengthen the embattled country's military.
In the video footage, an initial aerial strike hits a Russian tank located in a valley, near the side of a deserted roadway. The center of the tank then bursts into flames, sending a pillar of white smoke billowing into the air.
The camera then zooms right before a second strike targets the military vehicle, decimating the Russian tank. The second strike fills the air with black smoke, that conceals the entire valley. It is unclear exactly what happens to the vehicle on the ground but the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense says that the tank was "exploding."
The first hit—the tank is burning.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 3, 2024
The second one—and it's exploding.
📹: 80th Air Assault Brigade pic.twitter.com/pcm1tNLX8o
It has been more than two years since Russia escalated the war that first began in 2014. In the largest attack on a European country since World War II, Vladimir Putin's military annexed and occupied 20% of Ukraine's territory.
Putin issued a decree calling up 150,000 Russian citizens for military service on March 31. This followed similar orders last fall and spring.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy lowered the age of draft eligibility for Ukrainian men from 27 to 25 years old, eliminated some draft exemptions and created an online registry for military recruits. The Center for United Actions, a government watchdog organization in Kyiv, estimates that the new legislation could increase the size of the Ukrainian military by 50,000 troops, the Associated Press reported.
These estimates pale in comparison, however, to the number of people Zelenskyy believes Russia is about to deploy.
"I can say that Russia is preparing to mobilize an additional 300,000 military personnel on June 1," he recently told reporters.
