Ukraine’s new NATO-standard tanks and fighting vehicles are appearing in battlefield images as military analysts say Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive is getting under way.
German-made Leopard tanks and U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicles pushing toward the town of Tokmak, in Ukraine’s occupied south, showed up in photographs posted by Russian military bloggers that seem genuine, according to Osint Defender, an online open-source intelligence group that said it geolocated the images and checked for any signs they had been manipulated.
“The Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun,” said Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), in an emailed comment. “Since 4 June Ukrainian forces have been attacking along the front line. This seeks to pin Russian forces in place and probe for weaknesses.”
