MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Russian singer and song-writer Grigory Leps has paid a 1 million ruble ($11,285) monetary award to a Russian fighter who eliminated a Leopard tank in the special operation zone in Ukraine.

"I have delivered on my promise," Leps wrote on his Telegram channel, posting a video in which the soldier thanks the singer.

The Russian serviceman with the call sign Venom confirmed he had received the monetary award in the same video.

The first such awards were handed out in a St. Petersburg hospital in late June. The initiative to remunerate soldiers for wiping out Western-made armored combat vehicles belongs to Vladimir Kiselyov, producer and founder of the Zemlyane rock band.