RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian soldier thanks Biden for sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine

The Russian troops have seemingly recorded a video, where one of them mockingly thanked US President Joe Biden for supplying Kiev with Abrams tanks and giving Moscow’s forces an opportunity to earn some extra money by destroying them. Footage came amid reports about several such US-made heavy armor pieces being destroyed in less than a week.

A short clip that surfaced on social media featured an apparent Russian serviceman wearing full military gear, a helmet and a mask. “We, Russian warriors express our sincere gratitude to you for the Abrams tanks that the US is supplying to Ukraine," the soldier can be heard saying on the video, addressing the American president in English.

The man then goes on to explain that Russian troops are offered bonuses for each destroyed piece of Western equipment and asks Biden “to send more” Abrams tanks, as those that did arrive in Ukraine “are very few” and the Russian forces have to spend a lot of time just hunting down for them.

The US initially announced the delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in January 2023, the shipment did not arrive until the autumn, and the vehicles were absent from the front line until February.

The soldier also said that there were certainly not enough American tanks in Ukraine for every Russian serviceman to get their well-deserved bonus and offered Biden a 10% commission from every payment a Russian soldier gets by destroying the US-made heavy armor. He also suggested Biden get himself a Russian ‘MIR’ debit card to make it easier for the soldiers to send him money.

The video ends with the serviceman mockingly praising Biden as “a true patriot and the best US president as well as expressing his hope for “a mutually beneficial partnership.” “Together, we will win!” he adds.

Earlier on Sunday, the Russian journalists reported that an Abrams tank and a US-made mine-clearance vehicle based on an Abrams chassis were destroyed in Donbass. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the destruction of the first US-made heavy armor in the Ukraine conflict.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian rescuers complete search after Odesa drone attack kills 12

Rescue workers completed operations on Sunday after a drone strike on an apartment building in the southern city of Odesa, finding four more bodies and bringing the death toll to 12.

Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper, writing on Telegram, said rescue teams working into Sunday evening had found the bodies of an eight-year-old girl, near the body of her older brother, uncovered earlier.

Rescuers earlier in the day recovered the bodies of a mother and baby.

Kiper said five of the dead in the Odesa apartment building were children, the youngest being four months old.

The drone crashed into a residential building in Odesa on Saturday. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said casualties could have been avoided if Ukraine had not faced delays in arms deliveries.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, posting on Telegram, said Russian forces had wounded 16 people in an aerial bomb attack on an apartment building in the eastern town of Kurakhove, west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

Two of the injured were children. Dozens of apartment buildings sustained damage.

Klymenko said on Saturday an infant was found dead alongside his mother in the rubble of the Odesa building. He posted a photograph of a rescue worker next to a bloodied blanket, a baby's arm visible on one side and an adult arm extending out the other.

Sunday was declared a day of mourning in Odesa.

RT/Reuters