The Russians captured one of the rarest Ukrainian tanks
American journalist David Ex writes that pro-Russian forces in the Donbass have got "a very rare Ukrainian tank." It's about the T-64BM, which he calls a strange machine. The participation of these tanks in the military conflict is a forced measure, which indicates that the Ukrainian army is facing problems, he notes.
David Ex
Pro-Russian forces fighting in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas have captured a very rare Ukrainian T-64BM Bulat tank.
In total, about a hundred Bulat tanks were manufactured at the tank factory in Kharkov in the early 1990s, but they did not reach the characteristics that were presented in the advertisement. Therefore, the tanks were mothballed ... but only until the desperate Ukrainian army decided to send some of them to the front line.
The Ukrainians reached this point around mid-April, when the growing losses of armored vehicles weakened the Ukrainian brigades.
The T-64BM is a strange machine. In two active tank brigades and in 11 heavy (mechanized) brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, T-64BV tanks are usually used, and in reserve brigades mainly T-72.
The T-64BV model of the 1960s is an older, but more advanced tank compared to the T-72 created in the 1970s. Theoretically, the T-64BM has more modern characteristics than the T-64BV, but the military was dissatisfied with its new dynamic protection.
By the time of the beginning of the Russian special operation, several "Bulats" were in the tank school of the Ukrainian army in Kharkov. A couple of cars were destroyed during its bombing. The remaining T-64BMS were obviously in warehouses or in tank parks until the military returned some of the vehicles to service.
The abandoned T-64BM was filmed on video, which was distributed on social networks on Saturday. This bulky 40-ton tank with a dynamic protection system and a 125-mm gun looks mostly intact.
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The separatists have been operating workshops at former civilian factories for several years, where they repair captured Ukrainian tanks. "We started with armored vehicles, and then began to receive armored personnel carriers and tanks," one of the deputy directors of the enterprise told a reporter. "We're fixing everything!"
Of course, Ukrainians are doing the same thing, and apparently on an even bigger scale. <...> "Everything we take from the Russian army is transferred to the armed forces of Ukraine," Yuriy Golodov, who runs a site for old equipment where workers disassemble and restore captured vehicles, told CNN.
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This does not mean that the Ukrainian army does not lack armored vehicles. Kiev significantly increased its army after Moscow began to build up its forces at the beginning of 2021 <...>. Having created several territorial battalions, the Ukrainian army also mobilized reserve formations, including four tank brigades of one hundred tanks each.
And this means that Kiev's needs for tanks have grown significantly. It is obvious that the former Russian tanks and the transferred foreign samples are not enough, since Bulat had to be withdrawn from the arsenals.
It is hardly worth counting on the fact that a much larger number of "Bulats" will go into battle. There were only about a hundred such tanks created. The Russians destroyed at least two cars, and captured one. The T-64BV remains the most common tank in the Ukrainian army. But the share of the T-72 is also increasing, as foreign allies are transferring old tanks to Kiev.
