Somewhere In Eastern Ukraine, A Russian BTR-82 Vehicle Played A Deadly Game Of Chicken With A Ukrainian M-2. The BTR Lost, Badly.
A deadly game of vehicular chicken on the front line in eastern Ukraine ended in death and destruction on or just before Saturday—but only for the losing side.
When a Russian army BTR-82 wheeled armored personnel carrier carrying a squad of infantry on its roof managed to cross the no-man’s-land between Russian and Ukrainian lines and speed into a Ukrainian-held settlement, west or southwest of the ruins of Avdiivka, an M-2 Bradley tracked infantry fighting vehicle from the Ukrainian army’s 47th Mechanized Brigade raced out to meet it.
As a Ukrainian drone observed from overhead, the two vehicles sped toward each other along the same paved road, the BTR-82 firing its 30-millimeter autocannon and the M-2 firing its own 25-millimeter autocannon.
At the last second, the BTR swerved right to avoid a collision. The two vehicles passed within feet of each other, each blazing away with its gun. “Not something you ever thought you’d see in real life,” the Estonian analyst with the handle “War Translated” commented.
*There were clear winners and losers in this deadly game: the M-2 and its three-person crew seemingly escaped unharmed. The BTR-82 rolled away damaged and smoking, dead and injured infantry spilling from its hull.*
