The fact about Kyiv tank-crushing video that despatched shivers down the spines of Western leaders: How surprising clip sparked panic and confusion at on-set of Russia’s invasion… earlier than true story emerged
In the first hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a shocking piece of footage emerged that encapsulated the chaos and confusion of war.
On February 25, 2022 – the first full day of conflict following the invasion – a huge military vehicle was seen barrelling along a highway through Kyiv‘s northwestern Obolon district, close to the combat zone.
It veered to the left into oncoming traffic and smashed into a civilian car, steamrolling over the top and crushing the vehicle into the tarmac in what appeared to be a reprehensible war crime.
Just moments earlier on the same road, at least two men driving a military truck were ambushed by Ukrainian soldiers.
The truck careened off the asphalt and screeched to a stop as its occupants dove out and sought cover, but the Ukrainian troops stalked up and gunned them down without remorse.
As horrified onlookers shared their clips to social media, observers quickly seized upon the content as proof of the Russian invaders’ brutal actions against the Ukrainian people.
‘Russian terrorists drove a tank purposely over a civilian’s car,’ one post read.
Another described the incident as ‘barbaric’ as the clips racked up tens of millions of views.
But before long, it was revealed that these incidents which became synonymous with Russia’s aggression against its neighbour turned out to be a clear example of misinformation – and of tragic friendly fire.
Pictured left: A tank shown in the split-second before it crushes a civilian car in the middle of a Kyiv road. Right: The tank shown with the car underneath it
A military vehicle has been filmed crashing into and rolling over a civilian car near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. Pictured: The aftermath of the crash, with the driver trapped inside
The incident, recorded from multiple angles, saw an armoured truck driving down a main road leading through a residential area. As the armoured vehicle came close to the civilian car, it suddenly swerved towards it – giving the driver little time to react
Upon further scrutiny, the allegation that it was a Russian tank that had surged into Kyiv and flattened a civilian car was proven to be false.
Geolocation of the footage concluded the incident did indeed take place in the Ukrainian capital’s Obolon district on February 25 in the opening hours of Russia’s invasion.
But no Russian tank had made it to the outskirts of Kyiv by that stage.
The armour was in fact a Strela-10, a Soviet-era mobile surface-to-air missile system used by Ukraine for short-range air defence, military analysts concluded.
In other words, the civilian car was pancaked by a Ukrainian missile launcher operator who was hastily driving through Kyiv’s outskirts having likely been engaged in the defence of Hostomel Airport.
In the aftermath of the terrifying smash, it was presumed that the occupant of the stricken vehicle was killed.
The roof had completely caved in with the windows shattered.
But another clip taken by a civilian who dashed to the scene revealed the elderly driver had miraculously survived and was later pulled from the wreckage with mild injuries.
Using tools including an axe and a crowbar, a group of men are shown in a video working to get the door loose so they can rescue the motorist trapped inside the twisted frame of the vehicle.
The occupants of a military truck that lost control and skidded off the road moments earlier were not so lucky.
In that case two people, a driver and a passenger, were driving through Obolon when they came under fire from a Ukrainian defence unit.
The Ukrainian soldiers reportedly believed the truck had been hijacked by Russian invaders and they promptly riddled the vehicle with bullets.
Aftermath: A Ukrainian military medic approaches the bodies of what were thought to be Russian servicemen wearing Ukrainian army uniforms. It was later revealed to be one of several friendly fire incidents that took place amid the chaos of war
Pictured: A truck comes under fire in the car park of an apartment building in a suburb near Kyiv. A man (pictured in the foreground) jumped out of the truck while under fire, but was shot and killed while trying to take cover on the floor
One occupant was killed in the cab of the truck, but another jumped out and took cover as the vehicle came to a stop.
In the disturbing footage, he is seen lying on the floor, begging for mercy before being shot dead by the advancing Ukrainian troops.
The shooters, who can be heard speaking in the footage, claimed the men in the truck were ‘Russian saboteurs disguised as Ukrainian soldiers.’
Their suspicions were reinforced by an urgent warning issued earlier that morning by Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister, Anna Maliar.
In a Facebook post, she cautioned that ‘the Russian army has seized Ukrainian army vehicles and is headed towards Kyiv.’
This fear of infiltrators was likely behind the shooters’ decision to open fire on the errant truck.
But again, the incident was later proven to be one of several heartbreaking friendly fire tragedies that occurred in Obolon, due to its proximity to the frontlines.
The Russian invasion prompted rapid mass distribution of weapons around Kyiv as military and civilian territorial defence groups organised themselves – but at first there was no formal communication established between them.
Amid reports of Russian sabotage groups bearing down on Kyiv, the miscommunication proved fatal.
BBC’s Ukrainian Service and the Kyiv Independent documented dozens of cases in which Ukrainian military units and armed civilian groups accidentally opened fire on their own countrymen.
A year on from the tragic events, Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) published a report on their findings from research on the chaos of war in Ukraine.
Its authors concluded that the incidents of ‘friendly fire’ came partially as a result of the ‘paranoia’ that Russian information attacks on Ukrainian society managed to provoke.
