Ukraine Claims It Destroyed Russian Convoy With Artillery

Russia Insists Convoy Was Never There, Didn't Get Destroyed

A puzzling story emerged this morning, based on some unconfirmed overnight reports of a column of Russian armored vehicles entering Ukrainian territory for destinations unknown.

Ukraine followed up those reports with claims that they had attacked the military convoy with artillery, and destroyed virtually the whole thing. Details of where the vehicles were or where the attack took place never went public.

The Russian Defense Ministry was similarly puzzled about the whole thing, insisting that the entire story was “pure fantasy” on Ukraine’s part, and that no column of vehicles ever entered Ukraine in the first place, let alone got destroyed.

The lack of evidence for the convoy, or for its destruction, makes it difficult to take the story at face value, and with Ukraine insisting Russia was looking for an excuse to invade, their bragging about attacking and destroying Russian vehicles doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Moreover, Ukraine’s artillery is almost exclusively Soviet-made products of the early 1960s, and while they do have some anti-armor capabilities, it seems preposterous that a 50+ year old set of artillery could wipe out a column of armor in the middle of the night in such short order.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.