However, head of the Zaporozhye region Yevgeny Balitsky stated that about seven Challenger 2 tanks of the United Kingdom had been detected on the front line in his region, and two of them had already been destroyed on the battlefield.
"There are about seven of them [Challenger 2 tanks]. Our 'birds' [surveillance drones] spot them. Four of them are now stationed near Stepnogorsk, two in Orekhov. And two of them were hit by a Kornet [a Russian anti-tank missile system]. They burst into flames with the first hit [...] They [Ukrainian troops] will not take the tanks away; the tanks will end up in some museum because of their sheer weight," Balitsky told the Russian broadcaster.
According to the governor, the UK tanks "do not show any superiority" in terms of armor power.
The UK Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that a Challenger 2 battle tank had been destroyed by Russian troops in a military operation zone.
The Zaporozhye regional administration added that the incident was believed to be the first in almost 30 years of the model being in service.
To date, the UK has delivered a total of 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.