Dramatic moment two Russian tanks blasted by bombs dropped from drone as Putin loses over 23,000 troops

THIS is the dramatic moment two Russian tanks were obliterated in a drone strike as Vladimir Putin loses more than 23,000 troops.

Striking footage showed the devastation caused by the strike from what was believed to be Ukraine's 503rd Naval Infantry Battalion.

In the clip the drone hangs in the air as it appears to eye up its Russian targets - understood to be Kurganets-25 tanks.

It then drops the bombs, plummeting towards the oblivious war machine before a strike rips apart the tank in a massive inferno.

It is unclear where the attack took place.

The shocking footage of the strike was shared online by the editor of the OSINT Bunker Podcast.

The humiliating scenes come as Putin's troop losses now amount to more than 23,200, reports.

According to the figures, Moscow has also lost more than 1,000 tanks and 190 planes.

Earlier this week, Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace estimated some 15,000 Russian troops have been killed.

He told MPs more than 2,000 of Putin's armoured vehicles have also been destroyed or captured.

Mr Wallace said: "This includes at least 530 tanks, 530 armoured personnel carriers and 560 infantry fighting vehicles.

"Russia has also lost over 60 helicopters and fighter jets."

Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted Russia has suffered "significant losses of troops" - calling it "a huge tragedy for us".

After failing to capture Kyiv in a nine-week assault that has turned cities to rubble and killed thousands, Russia is now focusing on the east and south of Ukraine.

Russian troops continued to pound Ukraine's eastern Donbas region on Saturday - but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine's military said.

The Russians were trying to capture the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a daily update.

"Not succeeding - the fighting continues," it said.

Moscow hopes to take full control of the eastern Donbas region made up of Luhansk and Donetsk - parts of which were already controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion.

Russia claimed its troops had struck 389 Ukrainian targets overnight on Friday.

Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk, saud Russians were shelling the entire region "but they cannot get through our defence". 

A senior US defence official said Moscow's offensive is going much slower than planned.

The official believes the Russians are at least several days behind where they wanted to be as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east.

"As Russian troops try to move north out of the bombed-out city of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been slow and uneven and certainly not decisive," they said.

The Ministry of Defence also said Russian forces are likely to be suffering from "weakened morale, along with a lack of unit-level skills and inconsistent air support".

"Russian forces have been forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in northeast Ukraine," it said.