In September, Russia lost at least 40 tanks (according to WarSpotting), and almost a quarter of them were T-72B3s.
Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed a Russian T-72B3M tank in the Lugansk region. The combined tactical group “Adam” posted a video of the attack on its Facebook page.
Judging by the video, the Ukrainian army discovered an invading tank in a burnt forest belt near a field and sent an FPV drone containing explosives to this tank. The operator directed the UAV directly under the tower, as a result of which the combat vehicle caught fire from the inside and after a while exploded due to the explosion of shells. As a result, all that remained of the Russian tank was a smoke-stained skeleton with its turret torn off.
Fighters from the Adam group shared, “They completely burned the enemy tank with a kamikaze drone.”
According to the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Citadel.Skhid”, the tank was disabled near the village of Chervonopopovka in the Lugansk region. The operator managed to hit the new T-72B3M model 2022 at a sensitive point between the hull and turret.
The model was developed in Russia as a more widespread and economical alternative to the main T-90A tank. According to the voluntary OSINT project WarSpotting, at the top of the list of tank losses of the Russian Armed Forces since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine are T-72 tanks, including their various modifications. Defense forces managed to knock out at least 7 T-72B3 units.
The authors of the channel noticed that according to Warspotting data for September, about 23% of tank losses (7 units) were caused by the newest T-90M, which was called “invincible” in Russia. The Russians lost the most T-80BV (8 units and researchers could not recognize another 5 models.
In August, they wrote about how the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed the Russian T-90M Proryv tank in the Kleshchievka area of the Donetsk region with a single drone. The cost of such a combat vehicle to Russia is about 4.5 million dollars, while the cost of a kamikaze drone is several hundred dollars.
It was also reported that Russia wants to protect its tanks from unmanned aerial vehicles with the new Triton electronic warfare system. At the Army 2023 exhibition, such equipment was installed on the T-72B3M tank.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.