Pictures and Videos Show Damaged Russian Vehicles and Tanks, “Fake” Body Armor – A series of photographs shared by military analysts this week show several Russian tanks and vehicles captured in Kherson Oblast.
Photos of a captured Russian T-62M tank, K-43269 Vystrel, and Tigr vehicle in Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/if2TLe9XIW
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 19, 2022
Shared on Twitter by Rob Lee, a war analysts and senior fellow for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the images show Russian tanks and vehicles left abandoned on the battlefield in varying conditions.
“Photos of a captured Russian T-62M tank, K-43269 Vystrel, and Tigr vehicle in Kherson Oblast,” Lee wrote.
The image of the T-62M tank shows the vehicle in a state of disrepair and covered in debris. It is not known whether the vehicle was hit by a drone or grenade strike, or whether the vehicle is covered with debris caused by a strike that occurred nearby.
The T-62M is a variant of the T-62 Soviet battle tank that was first introduced in 1961. This month, reports revealed that Russia intended to restore and repair as many as 800 old T-62 tanks from the Soviet eta. The vehicles, considered obsolete, were sent to Ukraine in significant numbers to make up for Russia’s shortage of howitzers and advanced weapons.
The rest of the photographs of abandoned Russian vehicles, some of which did not look as though they had been destroyed by a rocket or grenade strike, offers a glimpse into the condition of the vehicles being used by Russian soldiers on the frontline.
Shoddy Equipment?
Not only are Russian soldiers using severely damaged and outdated weapons and vehicles on the battlefield, but the protective equipment being handed out to soldiers and newly deployed reservists appears to be of subpar quality, too.
A video that went viral this week shows a Russian soldier speaking directly to a camera, complaining about the quality of the bulletproof vest given to him and the rest of the men deployed with him.
Russian soldiers use mini bulletproof vest?♂️. #Russian #Russia #Ukraine #Ukrainian #UkraineWar #UkraineRussiaWar #RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/zEHsbJDHVX
— Tempo Dolok (@infussambas) October 17, 2022
Some war trackers on Twitter, however, noted that the same man later appeared in a video retracting his statement.
Nonetheless, a report from Forbes this week notes that Russian soldiers are being issued “fake body armor” before they are sent to the battlefield.
“Soldiers in the Russian-backed LNR and DNR units are wearing older 6B23 body armor which Ratnik superseded; the older version transmits too much blunt trauma to the wearer (leading to broken ribs or internal injuries),” David Hambling writes, adding that soldiers mobilized from Crimea were issued even older bulletproof vests with holes in them.
According to the report, some of the vests were “repaired” with insulating tape.
With Russian-backed Kherson officials already calling on residents to evacuate the region, and a new battle for Kherson expected imminently, Russian forces face the difficult task of countering NATO-standard weapons with older Soviet equipment and outdated, damaged protective equipment.
T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
It’s no wonder, then, that Russian forces now appear to be dependent on Iranian drones and coordinated strikes on critical energy infrastructure designed to slow down Ukraine’s advance.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
