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Putin has suffered significant losses during his invasion of Ukraine as his war machine has been obliterated by Kyiv. But terrifying new footage has captured the launch of the new armoured vehicles in the Donbas region. The tank has an arsenal of grenade launchers, anti-tank systems, and small arms in it.
A defence source told state news agency RIA Novosti: “They are involved in the fire destruction of Ukrainian positions, armoured vehicles, and crews of anti-tank missile systems.”
The tanks have been seen spotted before in Syria but were moved to the Ukrainian border in February.
It comes as a Russian soldier accused of war crimes in Ukraine pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing an elderly unarmed civilian.
Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian tank commander, entered his plea in a Kyiv district court hearing its first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier who took part in Moscow’s February 24 invasion.
READ MORE: Putin has ‘surgery to remove fluid from his abdomen’
In a trial that has huge symbolic importance for Kyiv, Shishimarin is charged with murdering a 62-year-old civilian in the northeast Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on February 28.
If convicted, he faces up to life imprisonment.
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians during the invasion and said it has identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes and accused Kyiv of staging them to smear its forces.
Ukrainian state prosecutors have said Shishimarin and four other Russian servicemen fired at and stole a privately owned car to escape after their column was targeted by Ukrainian forces.
The Russian soldiers drove into the village of Chupakhivka where they saw an unarmed resident riding a bicycle and talking on his phone, they said.
They said Shishimarin was ordered by another serviceman to kill the civilian to prevent him reporting on the Russians’ presence and fired several shots through the open window of the car with an assault rifle at the civilian’s head.
The civilian died on the spot.
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