T-72 Russian tank spotted and destroyed in Snizhne Ukraine? 12-6

Several reports came out today that 3 Russian T-72 tanks were spotted in Snizhne:

@MiddleEast_BRK @lennutrajektoor Here is photo of one of the Russian T-72 tanks pic.twitter.com/vFVtNhVDSR
— Андрій (@AndrijUKR) June 12, 2014

Avakov: 3 tanks T-72 crossed border today, more armored cars and BM-21 GRADs are deployed close to the border @euromaidan @ukrpravda_news
— Ruthen (@RutheniaRus) June 12, 2014

#INVASION: "Three Russian tanks cross #Ukraine's border, fight ongoing with Ukrainian security forces near #Snizhne" http://t.co/GR3b5zGW3z
— East of Brussels (@EastOfBrussels) June 12, 2014

Here is a video with a tank:

Screenshots of the tank:

This is the geolocation:

Blue = camera position and view
Red is tank and direction of driving.

On Google maps:

Snizhne (red marker) is strategically important, because it protects the crosspoint of roads (yellow) from the border to as well Lugansk as Donetsk (red)
The border post at Marinovka (blue) has been heavily contested the last week.

Of course it is a MAJOR development if Russian tanks are now in East-Ukraine and it seems the (pro)Russians are fortifying Snizhne now.

Also see the current situation with the different border posts.

Here is another video showing something similar:



The location is very close to the other tank:

This article from Inforesist says that several armored vehicles entered East-Ukraine today and that the three tanks already entered earlier.


Now NickJDWEurope has a different view:

Video of a supposed rebel tank in #Donetsk is a #Ukraine built T-64B, not a #Russian T-72 http://t.co/iMzCuEdWMU @djp3tros @JonChicky
— Nick de Larrinaga (@NickJDWEurope) June 12, 2014

@oijcbrown @MiddleEast_BRK There are several ways to differentiate. Road wheels and infrared searchlight locations are two key ones.
— Nick de Larrinaga (@NickJDWEurope) June 12, 2014

Here is a photo of a T64B being renovated in Lviv:

And here is a photo from a T-72:

Difference is the T64B has the searchlight on its left side (for the viewers on the right). This is clearly the case, as well as in the video as in the photos.
So, ok it is a T-64B.

Are these (pro)Russians?
Without a doubt they are in possession of the (pro)Russians. They are roaming in an area where Ukraine is not operating. There is a border post Marinovka nearby that is desperately asking for assistance and reinforcement, but they are not getting any. Ukrainians tend to proudly carry Ukrainian flags with them. These don't have flags.
So definitely these are Ukrainian.

Even this CONFIRMED Russian troll WELCOMES the "1st members of the Donbas Novorossiya tank regiment":

Was a T72 destroyed?
Reports about this turned out to be fake because of a new Russian Troll trick. Read about it here.


Where do they come from?

To add to tank confusion, this says rebels took three tanks from Lugansk province http://t.co/1UgPID4Dtg #Ukraine #Russia
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) June 12, 2014

@shaunwalker7 I saw 2 tanks in Snezhnoe #Ukraine. Avakov said tanks there came across the border from #Russia. Just to make clear what I saw
— Thomas Grove (@tggrove) June 12, 2014

@shaunwalker7 Tanks don' pop up over night. No tanks seized fr Ukraine army. The tank crew openly talks they are fr Russia @tggrove
— lennutrajektoor (@lennutrajektoor) June 12, 2014

To sum up:
- there are tanks in (pro)Russian hands now
- Ukrainian government and Inforesist say they came across the border
- tank crew say they came across the border
- rebels say they were stolen
- so far there are no known reports about stolen tanks.

What might be possible is that this is Russia's way of 'returning tanks from Crimea' back to Ukraine?

IMPORTANT UPDATE
A convey with these tanks is spotted in Makeekva, indicating they were indeed coming from Russia.