Ukraine’s armed forces have used Australian Bushmaster vehicles to recapture vital territory from Russia.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov revealed in a Twitter post on Monday that Australian-built military vehicles helped the country’s defense forces seize the Oskil River and were used to liberate the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Australia has been a strong supporter of Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Vladimir Putin’s invading army, pledging more than $300 million in military aid, including 40 Bushmaster vehicles since war broke out in February.
‘In the interest of protecting Liberty, he traveled halfway around the world, from Australia to the Ukraine. 19,300 km across the Indian Ocean,” Reznikov wrote of the vehicles.
“Thanks to ‘Bushmaster’, the #UAarmy reached the Oskil River and continues to liberate the Kharkiv region.”
Soldiers from Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade were seen in a video released Monday driving an Australian Bushmaster vehicle through a rural town that had just been liberated.
Mr. Reznikov thanked his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Miroshnichenko, along with the Australian people for sending Bushmasters to the battlefield.
A clip was shared in the tweet showing soldiers from Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade driving a Bushmaster through a recently liberated rural area.
A soldier sitting behind the machine gun mounted on top of the vehicle shouts: ‘Glory to Ukraine’.
Another soldier standing behind him waves his arms in the air and says, ‘Glory to the heroes.’
The man filming the clip proceeds to thank Australia.
The Bushmaster, nicknamed ‘The Bushy’, is an 11-tonne armored military vehicle built in the Victorian city of Bendigo and is designed to deploy up to 10 soldiers on the battlefield.
It is designed to protect passengers from land mines and other explosives.
In the clip, a Ukrainian soldier sitting behind the machine gun mounted on top of the vehicle shouts, “Glory to Ukraine,” while another soldier standing behind him waves his arms in the air and says, “Glory to heroes.” .
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov (pictured) said in a Twitter post that Australian-built armored vehicles had helped Ukraine’s defense forces recapture vital territory from Russia.
The Bushmaster (pictured) is an 11-tonne armored military vehicle and is proving very popular with Ukrainian defenders since Australia sent 20 to the besieged country in April.
Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in late August to recapture Russian-occupied territory that had previously been lost to Moscow.
President Volodymyr Zelinsky confirmed last Friday that more than 30 towns in Kharkiv Oblast in eastern Ukraine had been liberated.
The armed forces have continued to push north into the Kharkiv region and advance south and east, Ukraine’s army chief says, a day after their rapid advance prompted Russia to abandon its main stronghold in the area. .
Ukraine’s general staff said Monday morning that its forces had recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in the last day.
It came after Russia acknowledged it was leaving Izium, its main stronghold in northeastern Ukraine, and soldiers left behind ammunition and equipment as they fled the city.
Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive in late August to retake Russian-occupied territory. More than 30 towns and villages in Kharkiv have since been retaken (pictured Kharkiv Mayor of Derhachi Vyacheslav Zadorenko tears up a Russian flag while surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers)
President Zelenskiy hailed the offensive as a potential breakthrough in the war and said more breakthroughs could happen in winter (in the photo, residents greet Ukrainian soldiers in a place indicated as Kozacha Lopan, Kharkiv region)
President Zelenskiy hailed the offensive as a potential breakthrough in the war, saying more progress could be made in winter if Ukraine received more powerful weapons.
He praised the military in a video address Saturday night, saying it has recaptured more than 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) of territory so far this month.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, claimed in a post on Telegram that progress was being made to the south, east and north.
He added that the Ukrainian armed forces were now only 50 km from the Russian border.
A Bushmaster PMV is loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster headed for Ukraine on April 8.
