• A Ukrainian tank crew survived multiple Russian drone strikes on their Abrams tank.
• Abrams tanks have better crew protection than Soviet-style tanks.
• But Ukrainian forces are also enhancing Abrams with additional armor to counter emerging threats.

A Ukrainian tank crew survived around half a dozen direct Russian drone strikes on their Abrams tank, a feat a tank commander told researchers wouldn't have been possible in a Soviet-style tank like a T-72.

As footage of the engagement circulated on Russian Telegram channels, war analysts Rob Lee and Michael Kofman, experts at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, connected with the Ukrainian tank commander from the 47th Mechanized Brigade who shared how that bad situation in Russia's Kursk region ultimately played out.

"That's our tank," he told them. "There were 4-6 direct hits. The crew survived, and even without injuries. God bless America."

The American-made tank was disabled and taking repeated hits from fiber-optic first-person-view, or FPV, drones, which are not as vulnerable to electronic warfare countermeasures as other systems in use in Ukraine because the connection comes from a cable linking the drone and the operator.

"The Abrams is a great tank," the Ukrainian commander said in a string of remarks Lee shared on X. "Thanks to the fact that the ammo is completely separated from the crew, the crew has a chance to survive." The Russians were unable to penetrate the hull or the turret while the crew was inside. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly celebrated Western tanks for their survivability.

Unlike the T-series tanks, where ammunition is stored on racks in the turret, the Abrams is equipped with blast doors and vents that protect the crew in the event the ammunition is ignited. On Soviet-style tanks, which were not built with crew survivability as a top priority, if the ammunition in the turret is ignited, it can cause a major explosion inside the tank. The serious overpressure kills the crew and launches the turret into the air.

The tank commander told Lee and Kofman that the crew likely wouldn't have survived the fight if they'd relied on the Abrams armor alone, though.

The American-made M1 Abrams tank is powerful, with greater range, firepower, and armor than the Russian T-series tanks, which were built for mobility and massed armored assaults, but the M1s that the Ukrainians received are older export variants that lack the top armor upgrades of US Army tanks, such as depleted-uranium armor.

The commander said that "without the additional ERA and 'cope netting' on top of the turret," the crew "would have been smashed and surely dead by now without any chance. The tank's armor is weak, and it is vulnerable (as any other tank) to FPV drones."

Ukrainian troops have been analyzing Abrams losses and equipping tanks with explosive reactive armor made to explosively repel projectiles, and cages and netting designed to catch incoming drones before they can strike the tank, especially around the vulnerable turret. The Ukrainians sometimes add two to three tons of additional Kontakt-1 ERA.

The tank commander said that the Abrams armor combined with the add-ons, as well as the tank features specifically built for crew survivability, "saves human lives, even in DIRE conditions."

The crew was able to get out of the tank and fall back to friendly lines. The Russians struck the tank several more times after they abandoned it. The commander said it might still be salvageable. With better crew survivability, trained tankers live to fight another day, but a key challenge for Ukraine is that it only has a limited number of Abrams. The US only sent 31 tanks. It did, however, provide hundreds of armored Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

The Ukrainian tank commander who spoke to Lee and Kofman expressed concerns about American preparation for future wars. For instance, he called attention to the training he received. He said that the US instructors "were completely unaware of the modern battlefield threats."

"They do not understand at all the threat posed by the FPVs," the commander said.

There's a growing awareness in the US military that these systems are threats, but having not experienced these challenges the way the Ukrainians have in a war that is being dominated by deadly uncrewed systems, developing sufficient training programs and necessary tactics, techniques, and procedures remains a work in progress.

But important to note is that the US military fights with more capabilities than Ukraine as a combined force that offers it greater lethality. Still, there are lessons to be learned from this war and the way the Ukrainians are fighting it.

"American tankers should act promptly," the commander said. "Protect your tanks urgently to avoid losses in potential near-future conflicts, taking into account our experience."

The US Army is monitoring developments in Ukraine closely and working to apply lessons from the conflict. The Pentagon, likewise, is increasingly recognizing the threat that drones can play, from the high-end systems to the cheap, off-the-shelf capabilities, and recently released its counter-drone strategy to prepare the joint force for future battlefields where drones are likely to pose a significant challenge.

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Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah fall on the same date this year for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Flashback: Hanukkah last started on the evening of Christmas Day in 2005 — the only other time the two have aligned in the last 50 years.

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• Hanukkah has started the night of Christmas Eve twice in the last 50 years: in 1978 and 2016.

How it works: The first day of Hanukkah comes on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, which is based on lunar cycles with the occasional "leap month."

• Jewish calendar days begin at sundown, meaning 25 Kislev starts this year on the evening of Dec. 25, when the first candle is lit.
• Hanukkah can start in late November through late December on the more commonly used Gregorian calendar.

By the numbers: The earliest first nights of Hanukkah on the Gregorian calendar over the last 50 years came in 1994 and 2013, when it fell on Nov. 27.

• The latest came in 1986, on Dec. 26.
• The most common first night over the last 50 years? Dec. 8 (1974, 1993, 2012).

💬 Our thought bubble: This year's "Chrismukkah" is both a simple celestial coincidence and a blessing for people who take part in both holidays, giving us a rare chance to truly blend and share end-of-year celebrations and traditions with our different family groups and loved ones.

What's next: The next Hanukkah-Christmas alignment is in 2035.

• More than 100 of North Korea's elite troops were killed in their first battles for Russia, per South Korean intel.
• A futher 1,000 were wounded in the fighting, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.
• The troops are ill-prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain, the agency added.

More than 100 of North Korea's best "Storm" troops have been killed and a further 1,000 injured fighting alongside Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, according to South Korean intelligence.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service told lawmakers on Thursday that the troops' losses came in their first battles for Russia, The New York Times reported.

One lawmaker, Lee Seong-kweun, also told reporters that a general-ranking officer may be among the dead, the report said.

North Korean troops arrived in Russia in October. Ukraine said the following month that it attacked North Korean forces for the first time.

Since then, North Korean troops' casualties have mounted. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that preliminary estimates say over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Russia's Kursk region.

That region, into which Ukraine launched an offensive in August, is where North Korean troops are now fighting.

North Korea's "Storm" Corps are among the most well-trained in Pyongyang's military, as well as the most indoctrinated, the Times reported.

But despite that elite status, they were still not ready for the fight in Ukraine, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said.

It told lawmakers that they were poorly prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.

It's not the first time reports have suggested North Korea's forces are ill-prepared for the war.

The BBC reported that the Storm troops get more advanced training than other soldiers, but they are still underfed and can be malnourished.

Ukrainian officials and soldiers have also said that North Korean troops have been killed by drones that they did not realize were dangerous.

Ukrainian intelligence previously reported that North Korean troops accidentally killed eight Russian soldiers in Kursk, describing it as a "friendly fire" incident caused by a language barrier.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service reportedly told lawmakers that North Korean troops were sent to Russia so quickly that Moscow could not properly integrate them into the military and that they only learned a few military phrases in Russian, like "open fire," "artillery," and "in position" before being sent to battle.

But warfare experts warn that the troops' potential impact should not be dismissed, especially given that Russia's tactics have been to use poorly trained soldiers to overwhelm Ukraine.

For its part, Ukraine is reportedly trying to get North Korean troops to surrender, making videos and dropping leaflets on troops in a bid to get them to desert. It has also warned that Russia will treat North Korean troops like disposable cannon fodder, as it appears to have done with many of its own troops.

However, South Korea's National Intelligence Service said that North Korea appeared to be preparing to put more troops in Russia, the Times reported.

Zelenskyy also predicted that North Korean soldiers will at some stage be sent to the front lines in Ukraine.

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