Prior to this, Russia had also sent retired T-62 tanks to the frontline.Įxperts initially posited that Russia was resorting to such measures to compensate for the considerable tank losses it had sustained.

News of Russia's resurrection of T-54/55 museum tanks for active duty first surfaced at the end of March, when videos circulated on social media of the aging vehicles being transported by rail.

Can an organizationally degrading army, turning into a conglomerate of irregular formations, use equipment stuffed with explosives, like ISIS did? Well, it has been doing this for a year now,” independent military expert Pavel Luzin told The Moscow Times. “Can terrorists use a car filled with explosives to attack people? We know they can.

Observers have since speculated that the tank was used as a kamikaze vehicle. The tank triggered a mine and came to a halt before an anti-tank missile fired by a Ukrainian soldier engulfed it in a burst of flames. Video that emerged last month showed a lone Russian T-55 tank maneuvering toward Ukrainian positions.

Outdated optics, surveillance systems and fire control systems, coupled with inadequate protection against modern anti-tank weaponry, significantly hamper their effectiveness.Īs a result, Russia has largely used them as a substitute for self-propelled artillery - as well as loading them up with explosives and sending them forth as kamikaze vehicles. These tanks are ill-equipped to fulfill their intended combat roles on the modern battlefield. Russia has resorted to sending aging, Soviet-era tanks to the battlefield in Ukraine in a desperate bid to compensate for its staggering artillery losses, experts and analysts have said - but with mixed results.Īccording to the Dutch OSINT project Oryx, Russia had by May 31 lost over 2,000 tanks out of the 3,000 combat-ready vehicles of its original reserve when it invaded Ukraine 17 months ago.Īs these losses have piled up - and as it lacks the capacity to refurbish more modern tanks at the rates needed - Moscow has increasingly brought outdated Soviet-era T-54, T-55 and T-62 tanks out of storage and to the frontline, even as Ukraine receives increasingly advanced artillery from its Western allies.

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