- Footage appears to show Ukrainian soldiers stealing an advanced Russian tank.
- The tank was upgraded with electronic warfare equipment but Ukraine said it was still able to strike it.
- Ukraine’s military said the tank “now works for the defense of Ukraine.”
A new video claims to show Ukrainian soldiers stealing an advanced Russian tank and driving away with it.
The nighttime video, shared by the 12th Azov Assault Brigade, shows soldiers approaching the vehicle and then driving off. The brigade said its soldiers captured the T-72B3M tank and brought it back to their own side.
It is not clear if any Russian soldiers were inside the tank when it was reportedly taken.
Repelled an assault and captured a Russian tank.
Footage of a failed invaders’ assault near Terny, as a result of which the Russians lost 11 pieces of equipment and the Azov fighters evacuated an enemy tank.
Intelligence spotted an armored group of Russians. It was moving… pic.twitter.com/iCpUZdPTmQ
— Azov Brigade (@azov_media) April 6, 2024
The released footage shows a column of Russian vehicles moving through fields, and being hit by Ukrainian drones and weaponry. The T-72B3M appears to have been part of that column.
The brigade also shared footage of soldiers standing beside the tank, seemingly after its capture. It said the tank was taken near the village of Terny in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s military said the brigade had captured the T-72B3M, which was first used in 2017. It said the vehicle was upgraded with “a combination of several electronic warfare systems,” designed to protect it from Ukrainian drones.
But it said that drone operators in Ukraine’s 60th Mechanized Brigade were still able to strike the tank using a drone “with a pre-set autonomous guidance system.”
“The captured tank now works for the defense of Ukraine and helps the military destroy the invaders,” it added.
Despite Ukraine’s claimed success, the fact that this Russian electronic warfare system is being used on the front lines could cause a big headache for Ukraine.
The two countries are in a race to out-develop each other with drones and jamming systems, as Business Insider’s Nathan Rennolds previously reported.
The 12th Azov Assault Brigade said the tank’s capture was part of a wider victory against a Russian assault.
It said Azov soldiers, along with other Ukrainian brigades, had intelligence that an armored column of Russians was on the move.
It said 50 Russian soldiers were killed, while others escaped by running away and abandoning their gear. It also said Russia lost 11 pieces of equipment, without elaborating on what they were.
Weapons trackers and experts say that Russia has lost far more tanks than Ukraine in the conflict.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies said in February that Russia had lost more than 3,000 vehicles since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
But it said Russia would likely be able to maintain its supply for two to three years by taking old tanks out of storage and producing new ones.
Ukrainian soldiers have also been using tanks captured or abandoned by Russian troops. This includes Ukrainian troops using T-80 tanks captured from an elite Russian armored unit in the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut last year.
War analysts say Russia has recently increased the size and number of its mechanized assaults, possibly hoping to overrun Ukraine’s defenses before further aid arrives from the West.
Ukraine is running critically low on artillery and ammunition, making it harder for it to attack Russia and hold ground.
Ukraine was still able to stop a large-scale mechanized assault last month, which war analysts said is a sign that Ukraine can still make significant progress on the battlefield if its forces are “properly equipped.”
