On Ukraine's frontline with the crews fighting with UK-supplied Challenger 2

A day's drive from Kyiv and we're approaching one of Ukraine's defensive lines. We're in Sumy, close to the border with Russia's Kursk region. We're here to meet the 82nd Air Assault Brigade. In August this unit spearheaded one of the most audacious attacks of the war, when Ukrainian forces crossed the border and seized 500 square miles of Russian territory. Hidden in this woodland is one of the brigade's most precious weapons, a British Challenger 2 tank. Our last mission was to Kursk Oblast. There were four waves of Russian armour, 11 vehicles in each, four waves of them. The fighting was really intense but we got through it. They call this the sniper tank and in that sense it proved itself. We destroyed four Russian APCs and possibly a tank too. How much ammunition have they got? Have they got enough ammunition? At first sight it looks like we've got a lot but once the waves of Russians start coming we can get through 30 rounds in half an hour, pretty much everything we have. If there was more we would have used those too. I'm going to take the commander and the gunner and you guys are going to mount on five zero. Britain gifted 14 Challenger 2s to Ukraine last year and these soldiers were sent to the UK for training with the British Army. Training in England was great. The instructors were excellent and in a short period of time they made tankies out of us. Bearing in mind that training usually takes a long time. To train as a loader like me it normally takes two years. We learned it all in two months. The most important thing is for the tank to work so huge respect to the instructors. It's a new tank for us and generally we had no idea what to do with it. We got in and it's like a two-room apartment up to sitting in a T-80. We were like wow how much space. What else can I say without the training in England it would have been difficult to learn over here. Crews change, new ones arrive and we teach them. We're the ones doing the teaching now but it's more difficult. Over there you have simulators and practice areas. It was a lot better In terms of how the tank feels to drive, the Soviet tanks have less space. The Challenger is also safer. This was proved in Kursk when we were shot at by four Russian helicopters. The tank was badly damaged and I was seriously injured. The tank really got it. All of the sights were destroyed and the periscopes. We had to get out of the tank to drive it out. If I was in a T-80 I would not have come out of there alive. Just like the British Parachute Regiment, the 82nd is one of the most elite units in the Ukrainian military. They were one of the first units into Kursk when Ukraine launched that incursion back at the beginning of August and in the four months of fighting they've lost several American infantry fighting vehicles and at least one of these British Challenger 2 tanks. Now massed against them to the east of here are up to 50,000 Russian troops including possibly 10,000 North Koreans. Vasya is 28, married with a four-year-old daughter. He's only had 10 days leave in the past year and he too was trained by the British Army. I really like this tank. Our previous ones are very different like the old T-80. The Challenger is far more maneuverable. It's big and spacious. The view is much better too and the thermal imaging sights have really saved us. We hit all the targets because of it. If it wasn't for that system we often wouldn't see the Russians. They hide behind trees which means they're not visible in our normal daylight sights. The thermal imaging camera is really good at detecting them. While the Challengers have proved lethal in combat at 64 tons they're also very heavy and in the fertile soil of eastern Ukraine that's been a problem. In the dry season it operates well but right now when there's mud, when there's weather like this it struggles to move around because of the mud. It's heavy and I think if the tracks were a bit different, if they didn't have pads it would be a bit easier. Not by a lot but it would help. The mud gets in between the track pads and because of that it's more difficult to move. That's one of the reasons. We're tired. We are all tired whether you're military or a civilian but no matter how hard it is no one is going to give up. We will reach a result. The question is what that result will look like. Russian forces have now retaken 40 percent of the territory they lost in Kursk and all along the front line Moscow is making grinding advances. While Ukraine waits for what Donald Trump's arrival in January will bring, for these soldiers the challenge is far more immediate as they try and survive another winter at war. Simon Newton, BFBS Forces News, Sumy in eastern Ukraine. Thanks for watching. For more from BFBS Forces News, like and subscribe to our channel.