While just over a year ago it seemed unthinkable that a war in Europe would ever erupt.
And yet, the war in Ukraine has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Social media will continue to be a guidepost to give us a true sense of what is occurring on the ground
New Footage Coming in From Ukraine
Video footage shared on social media this week shows the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike on a Russian T-62MV tank.
The clip shows the Russian tank wedged in between trees at the side of a dirt road.
Some shots show the tank emitting smoke from the turret, while other clips show the vehicle’s hull engulfed in flames.
Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular war tracking Twitter account that shared the video, noted that the tank was destroyed by the Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade and that it occurred somewhere near Marinka in Donetsk Oblast.
The account also noted that the vehicle could be an Obr. 2022 version of the aging T-62 tank.
“The Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade destroyed a Russian T-62MV tank (Possibly Obr. 2022) in the vicinity of Marinka, #Donetsk Oblast,” the account writes.
What Is An Obr. 2022?
Owing to a shortage of modern tanks available to send into Ukraine, Russia embarked on a major modernization program designed to improve the functionality of T-62 tanks. The program saw old, Soviet-era tanks fitted with more modern and effective armor. Reports from Russian social media previously indicated that the Russian 103rd Armored Tank Repair Plant was working on modernizing more than 800 Soviet-era tanks this spring, with a plan to modernize as many as 2,000 T-62 tanks.
Eagle-eyed Twitter users commenting on the video post above noted that the destroyed tank was almost certainly an Obr. 2022 version of the T-62 owing to the lack of a rangefinder on the top of the main gun, and a lack of an infrared searchlight next to the barrel.
The visible cage armor on the vehicle also indicates that it has been upgraded.
The T-62MV tank is also a modernized version of the T-62M, which itself is an upgraded version of the original T-62. The T-62M features an improved engine, a laser rangefinder, and a better suspension system. The T-62MV introduced new explosive reactive armor and improved firepower.
The T-62 is one of the oldest tanks to still be in use today. First introduced in 1961, the tank is an iconic piece of Soviet hardware. More than 22,000 of the tanks have been manufactured since the 1960s, and through iterative upgrades, it has remained in service in the Russian military ever since.
At the same time, however, no amount of upgrading can change the fact that Russian forces are fighting against Ukrainian troops equipped with much more modern NATO-standard weapons – making even the upgraded versions of the T-62 vulnerable to attacks.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 79th Air Assault Brigade destroyed a Russian T-62MV tank (Possibly Obr. 2022) in the vicinity of Marinka, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/gn54ytNGHZ
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 26, 2023
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He 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.
