Perhaps they should have held on to them: Hundreds of rusting tanks abandoned in secret Ukrainian depot unveiled as Russia's armoured vehicles line its streets
Posted on 10/13/2022 10:57:18 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
Despite all of his public bluster, is it possible that Vladimir Putin is getting just a bit desperate in his bid to find some sort of path to something he could call a “victory” in Ukraine? One hint could be found in the fact that he twisted Lukashenko’s arm to pull Belarus into the fighting at this late stage of the game. But another indicator of Russia’s military reaching the bottom of the barrel popped up this week. Yesterday, Tyler Rogoway from The War Zone sent out this alert on social media. It seems that Russia is “modernizing” some of their “vintage” T-62 tanks and taking them out of museum status so they can be sent to replace some of the hundreds of armored units that Ukrainian farmers have towed away for their own army to use.
(snip)
To be clear, the T-62 was hailed in its day as a top-rate, heavily armored Main Battle Tank (MBT) in the Soviet military when it debuted. Unfortunately, “its day” was literally in 1961. That was more than sixty years ago and military technology has moved on considerably, with lighter, faster tanks employing modernized shielding being the weapons of choice today.
As Trevithick points out, these T-62s are literally antiques. The rockets that the west has been supplying Russia with this year have been destroying Russia’s more modern T-80s and T-90s with abandon. One recent estimate claims that Putin has lost more than 40% of his operational tank fleet.
If the Ukrainians have been able to wipe out that many modern tanks, how well do you think these “vintage” tanks will fare?
(SNIP)
There is also a question of who will be operating these ancient tanks when they head toward the Ukraine border.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Perhaps they should have held on to them: Hundreds of rusting tanks abandoned in secret Ukrainian depot unveiled as Russia's armoured vehicles line its streets
I’ll take a T-34, please. “Get off my lawn!”
I’ll take a T-34, please. “Get off my lawn!”
Lol, perfect get off my lawn piece. Not to mention, grab some canister rounds…..the bird hunting would be epic!
“The rockets that the west has been supplying Russia with this year”
I suppose we have been supplying them to Russia. I’s just that Russia doesn’t much like that we deliver them to their forces at 300 mph.
Nukes! You forgot the nukes!
That story and photo are from 2014. How do you know that those tanks have not been reclaimed and refurbished, considering that they were sitting at the famous Kharkiv Tank Factory, abandoned by the Russians in 1991?
😜😉.......................
A phalanx of T34/76s come rushing down on you, a steel wall a mile wide.
That's ok, the US has a lot more money than Russia has. Plus, it's going to be hard for the Russians to replace the burnt-out crew members charred inside these antiques.
Oops! My bad! Those abandoned tanks were subsequently claimed and refurbished by the UAF.
Apologies!
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for October 13, 2022
- UN General Assembly vote demonstrates continued support for Russia by India and China as well as many other nations across the developing and newly industrialized world;
- Russia continues missile and drone strikes across Ukraine; - Ukraine’s plea for air defense systems is impractical and reflect desperation in Kiev;
- West is attempting to mix and match air defense systems to create an ad hoc integrated network;
- Many air defense components will take a year or longer to arrive in Ukraine;
- Many air defense components will be damaged or destroyed before the imagined integrated network is complete;
- A turning point is coming where the West will have to decide between escalating or abandoning its proxy war in Ukraine;
“Russia can’t win.”
With its nukes, Russia can’t lose either
That’s my kind of action.
How many crew members in one of these tanks?
4 crew
me too
Putin is going mad
becoming a mad man...
Rig up 200 of these as remote controlled drones. Drive them into a fortified Uke salient. Follow up with T-80’s after all the javelins are expended.
Mop up.
Now that’s funny. Being a Putard means never admitting you are wrong!
While the pictured tanks had mostly been put into service over the previous 8 years, that factory was still an active tank repair facility when Russia invaded. It was mostly destroyed during Russia’s failed battle for Kharkiv.
BINGO!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.