Key Points and Summary: Russia’s T-90 tanks, once touted as among the world’s best, have faltered in Ukraine, exposing vulnerabilities in design and leadership.
-Despite advanced features, the T-90’s autoloader places ammunition within the crew compartment, leading to catastrophic failures when struck by anti-tank weapons like the U.S.-supplied Bradley’s TOW missiles.
-Corruption and lack of discipline further undermine Russian military effectiveness, with poor leadership and inadequate training evident on the battlefield.
-Ukraine’s disciplined forces have leveraged modern Western technology to counter Russia’s T-90s, showing that superior tactics and training can outmatch even advanced equipment in modern warfare.
Why Russia’s T-90 Tanks Are Failing in Ukraine
What the world is learning in the war in Ukraine about the Russian military is that the raw numbers of equipment Moscow had in its inventory in February 2022 may have been impressive—even intimidating.
But if those weapon systems are not employed according to the tactics dictated by today’s battlefield and if the troops operating them are poorly led and have not experienced adequate training—the numbers of modern weapons in and of themselves do not count for much.
One of the Russian systems that the world was convinced would just roll over Ukraine’s military with little to no resistance was the UralVagonZavod (UVZ) T-90 main battle tank (MBT). The perceived formidable main battle tank began its run with issues but has become an impressive adversary on the field.
Disruptions in deliveries by second- and third-order suppliers caused by the collapse of the Russian economy in the 1990s, created a near decade-gap between the emergence of the first series-manufactured units and resumption of full-scale production. However, in the end, the T-90 proved to be a durable and effective combat platform.
However, the scourge of runaway corruption in the Russian military since the early 2000s and a lack of support for the defense industrial sector has turned the T-90 into one of the significant failures of the Ukraine conflict.
The “best in the world tank,” as Russian president Vladimir Putin called the latest T-90M version, has suffered numerous losses, so much so that the UVZ production plant cannot turn out enough new tanks to replace those destroyed in battle.
David and Goliath
Some of the more embarrassing moments were when the T-90Ms were either rendered inert or destroyed altogether in engagements with the US-supplied M-2 Bradley IFV. In January 2024, a T-90M is seen in a video being put out of action and is barely able to exit the battlefield in its heavily damaged condition.
It was a David and Goliath contest with the T-90M’s 125mm smoothbore against the much smaller and lighter Bradley and its 25 mm M242 chain-driven Bushmaster autocannon. The Bradley won the day, but it was not the only example of the smaller, 1970s-design and much more lightly-armored vehicle defeating the “best tank in the world.”
In another engagement less than 4 months later, in May 2024, a Bradley destroyed a T-90M outright with a single shot from a TOW anti-tank missile—another 1970s weapon—from a mile away. It was one of the longest-range tank kills of the war.
The Bradley itself is not a tank, explains more than one US military expert or retired senior officer, “but it is a tank killer” is the frequent phrase used to describe this aspect of the T-90’s poor performance.
One of the frequent users of that phrase is the Ukraine MoD. The T-90M is proven to have “formidable anti-armor capabilities that will work against, you know, every kind of armored capability that Russia has fielded in Ukraine,” as a senior Pentagon official said in 2023 when some of the first vehicles were delivered to the war zone.
Vulnerabilities for T-90
The T-90 has other aspects to its design that make it susceptible to lower-tech and smaller weapons of today.
One of those is that its ammunition autoloading system is a more modern version of the same vulnerability that has plagued Russian tanks for decades.
“Did you ever notice when you see photos of destroyed Russian tanks that you almost always see the turret has been blown off of the chassis by some huge explosion,” said one retired US Army two-star who was involved in the M-1 Abrams program development and who spoke to 19FortyFive.

T-90M Tank. Image Credit: Russian State Media.
“The ammunition in the Russian tanks, with the exception of the newest model T-14 Armata, always have their ammunition carried in the crew spaces,” he explained. “The slightest detonation of a weapon against the hull like an ATGM can spark that ammunition, the tank ‘brews up” and the next thing you know the explosion of all that ammo sends the turret careening off in some direction – and kills the entire crew in the process.”
Discipline Matters
Retired United States Army Lt. General Ben Hodges (Ret.), former commander (EUCOM ), points to the Russian military’s poor unit-level leadership and general lack of discipline. They rate this as another significant reason that the equipment provided to them is not always used effectively.
“Look at the videos on the news channels of what you see when the Ukrainians overrun a Russian bivouac area,” he said when we spoke in 2023 at the Warsaw Security Forum. “There is rubbish, empty bottles – it looks like the aftermath of a rock concert or some community festival – anything but a military post. Their discipline is almost non-existent.”

Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The T-90 might be one of the better tanks in the world, but the Ukrainians have what many rate as the world’s most ferociously dedicated and disciplined militaries in the world.
Up against an adversary like Ukraine, a better tank—but with poorly performing personnel—will probably continue to lose more often than not.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw and has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defence technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.

Swamplaw Yankee
January 19, 2025 at 8:57 am
MBT talk versus MBT action: that is the field to observe.
Ukraine is the fulcrum of MBT, et al, at this time. Test the morphology of all the contenders.
Send fully armoured Challengers from Britain in such numbers that the Ukrainian command can wield their technological advantage, thus ability.
If the British Challenger, the rare in number but number one in tech, is allowed there, then the MBT contenders can arrive. The Israeli contender, the Yankee Abrams and all others can be battle tested and asap.
The Chinese vassals from North Korea can easily ship in 500 – 2000 tanks created by the Han people. And, 10,000 in tank crews.
What with all the drone and transparent field tech about, the MBT face off can test the mettle of the builders.
Afterwards, the 2000 Chinese tanks can be donated to Hamas. Or, Erdogen?
Who has the media rights?