UKRAINE has destroyed a Russian tank in a "catastrophic explosion"

UKRAINE has destroyed a Russian tank in a "catastrophic explosion" after a direct hit from an anti-tank missile in the eastern region, footage shows.

Ukraine’s 24th Mechanized Brigade, the oldest continuous outfit within the nation’s ground forces, obliterated a Russian BMP-2 tank in the Luhansk Oblast region. The territory is the most easterly former Russian zone and has been at the centre of fierce conflict since Vladimir Putin withdrew his forces closer to home after a failed offensive on the capital of Kyiv. The 24th Brigade used one of around one hundred Stugna-P ATGM missiles available to Ukraine to destroy the tank.

In the footage, the Ukrainian outfit locates the Russian tank as it sits smoking after appearing to be immobilised.

The military vehicle is partially hidden behind greenery, with what appears to be its turret jutting out into the open.

The soldiers seem to discuss how best to target the tank before firing the Stugna-P ATGM missile.

The tank then explodes into a fireball, in what one social media user who posted the video described as a “catastrophic explosion”.

The missile came into production in 2011 in Ukraine and is one of their own weapons systems.

It was developed by the Luch Design Bureau, which is based in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Also known as the Skif, the missile can be fired from distances between 100 metres and five kilometres.

It boasts two modes of targeting, which mean it can be manually controlled towards a target or launched on a fire-and-forget automatic tracker.

While western eyes have been trained on the surrender and capture of Ukraine’s last defence in Mariupol, Russia has stepped up its aggression in the Luhansk area.

The region’s governor Serhiy Gaidai said today on Telegram that Russian shelling in certain towns in the area have “doubled”, though he could not confirm how many Ukrainians had been killed.

He said: "The Russian army has started very intensive destruction of the town of Sievierodonetsk, the intensity of shelling doubled, they are shelling residential quarters, destroying house by house.

"We do not know how many people died, because it is simply impossible to go through and look at every apartment.”

Ukrainian officials added that Russian forces have bombarded areas of the eastern Donbas from land and air.

They claimed that houses in residential districts had been devastated and a number of civilians were fatally wounded.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the assaults had turned the Donbas into "hell".

He said last night: "The Donbas is completely destroyed. "It is hell there - and that is not an exaggeration."

Earlier reports had put the civilian death toll in the Luhansk area of the Donbas at 13 in the past day, with 12 of them in Sievierodonetsk, which lies on a river about 70 miles northwest of the regional capital.