US general says Ukrainian fighters are destroying German Leopard tanks to avoid fighting

"The Russians have put a bounty on each tank destroyed. The first soldier who knocks out a Leopard gets 1 million rubles! And now every Russian soldier on the front line is looking for this tank. When it appears in sight, they all turn towards it and start firing all the ammunition they have at hand at it. So the Leopard driver backs off, gets hit by a mine and blows up. Or they deliberately destroy it," - Mr. Ritter said.

According to him, the Leopard tank was equipped with extremely high technology by the West and it was hoped that it would change the course of the war, but in the end the Russian army destroyed the Leopard without much difficulty.

Earlier, at a meeting with war correspondents, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that German Leopard tanks and US Bradley infantry fighting vehicles supplied to Kiev were easily destroyed by Russian forces in the special operations area.

Military campaign in Donbass

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Putin called its goal "to protect those who have been subjected to repression and genocide by the Kiev regime for the past eight years." He noted that the special military operation was a forced measure, Russia "has no other options, the security risk has been created to such an extent that it is impossible to respond with other measures."

According to him, Russia has been trying for 30 years to come to terms with NATO on security principles in Europe, but in response it has been met with either cruel deception and lies, or pressure and blackmail, while the alliance, despite Moscow's objections, has gradually expanded and approached the borders of the Russian Federation.