This is the moment Ukrainian troops destroy Russian tanks and armoured vehicles and declare that their defence is “working”.

The Ukrainian military said the attacks took place in the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv Oblast.

Intelligence officers identified clusters of Russian equipment and coordinated with ground troops to mount a series of attacks, reportedly destroying two tanks and two MTLB (Russian transport vehicles).

The Command of the Special Operations Forces (SSO) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said on 2nd May: “The Resistance Movement of the SSO of Ukraine is working.

“In the Kharkiv region, during reconnaissance operations, our soldiers discovered clusters of enemy equipment, including heavy armoured and lightly armoured vehicles.”

They added: “An hour after the priority targets for the strike were determined, soldiers of the Resistance Movement coordinated a unit of one of the artillery brigades and adjusted the fire on enemy targets.

“As a result of joint work of soldiers of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, the losses of the Russians amounted to: T-90 tank – destroyed. T-80BVM tank – destroyed. MTLB – destroyed. MTLB – damaged.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin called a “special military operation”. Today marks the 68th day of the invasion.

From 24th February to 29th April, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 23,800 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,048 battle tanks, 2,519 combat armoured vehicles, 459 artillery systems, 152 MLR systems, 80 anti-aircraft systems, 194 warplanes, 155 helicopters, 1,824 vehicles, 8 vessels, 76 fuel tank trucks, 271 operational-tactical level UAVs, 38 units of special equipment, and four mobile SRBM systems.

The UK has also released data claiming that they believe more than a quarter of the ground combat forces committed to the war in Ukraine have likely been “rendered combat ineffective” because of their losses.

The news comes as President Putin has reportedly agreed “in principle” to the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol by representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross. The Russian leader made the concession to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a meeting in Moscow.

In the latest update, it was revealed that 100 civilians already evacuated from the besieged steel works were expected to arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia shortly.

Elsewhere in the fighting, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that a missile strike destroyed a hangar and the runway at a military airport near the coastal city of Odesa. They claimed that the hangar contained Western-supplied weapons and ammunition.

Fighting has also intensified in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region where the regional governor Oleh Synehubov said the people in the north and east of the city of the same name should remain in shelters because of heavy Russian bombing.

And the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, urged people in his city to leave while they still could.