Wagner chief says they hit combine harvesters, not tanks + video

The Russia-Ukraine war takes a heavy toll not just on soldiers, but also the agriculture, as fighting often takes place on the fields. The sight of tanks, instead of combine harvesters zig-zagging through the wheat fields has become a regular occurrence. There are speculations that this time the Russians had missed the target and, instead of Ukrainian tanks, they hit agricultural machinery, at least according to several videos uploaded to Telegram.

"I congratulate the leadership of the Russian Defence Ministry and its fighters for a job well done," Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, noted ironically in his Telegram message.

Prigozhin also chimed in on the debate, kicked off by a Russian wartime Telegram channel, which claims that the silhouette of the fired vehicles looks more like a combine harvester than a tank. The channel suggests that, in reality, the footage by the Russian Defence Ministry shows troops hitting a civilian target.

Prigozhin congratulates Russia's Defence Minister in a peppery manner for having shot down Leopard tanks disguised as combine harvesters. The Wagner chief adds that the movement of the vehicles in the video and their downward-facing barrels suggest that they are indeed combine harvesters.

The video can also be viewed on the Wagner Group's official channel, and everyone can pick sides and decide if it's the Wagner chief, or Russia's military commanders who happen to be right.

Cover photo: Instead of tankers, the Russians may have hit combine harvesters (Source: Telegram)