Russia resorts to using 'Tankenstein' armoured vehicles fitted with ageing naval turrets

Russia’s armed forces facing severe arms shortages are resorting to welding together old armoured vehicles and naval turrets to create improvised tanks, new video footage appears to show.

A clip shared on social media showed a series of crude machines waiting to be loaded for transportation in an undisclosed location, but based on the words of the narrator it is presumed to be somewhere near the Ukrainian border.

‘This is the first time I’ve seen something like this. Even in the army I never came across anti-aircraft guns in this way,’ the narrator says in disbelief.

‘You can see they’re being prepared, sent somewhere.’

Another image shared on social media clearly shows the abomination – a Soviet-era MT-LB armoured personnel carrier sporting a pair of 25mm 2M-3 anti-aircraft guns taken from a battleship.

It comes as Ukraine’s armed forces claimed to have killed more than 1000 Russian troops in the past 24 hours as both sides suffer heavy losses amid bitter fighting along the frontline, particularly in Donetsk. 

A Soviet-era MT-LB armoured personnel carrier is seen sporting a pair of 25mm 2M-3 anti-aircraft guns taken from a battleship

A Soviet-era MT-LB armoured personnel carrier is seen sporting a pair of 25mm 2M-3 anti-aircraft guns taken from a battleship

A clip shared on social media showed a series of the crude machines waiting to be loaded for transportation in an undisclosed location

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 5, 2023

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 2S5 Giatsint-S self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 5, 2023

A Ukrainian serviceman puts out a fire on a burning tank in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, March 6, 2023

A Ukrainian serviceman puts out a fire on a burning tank in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, March 6, 2023

The Land Forces of Ukraine claim more than 3400 Russian tanks have been disabled or destroyed since Russian troops launched their invasion on February 24 last year.

Military databases put Russia’s tank reserves somewhere around 10,000 prior to the war, but many of these were aged and out of service due to lack of maintenance and corruption. 

A large portion of Moscow’s operational tank fleet has been put out of commission, and the armed forces have been forced to dust off Soviet-era vehicles or create such makeshift hybrid ‘tanks’ in a desperate attempt to compensate for the losses.

A British Ministry of Defence intelligence update claimed last week that Russia is now deploying 60-year-old armoured vehicles to the frontlines.

‘The Russian military has continued to respond to heavy armoured vehicle losses by deploying 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks (MBT)… In recent days, Russian BTR-50 armoured personnel carriers, first fielded in 1954, have also been identified deployed in Ukraine for the first time,’ the update read.

It added that despite the upgrades, the vehicles will be sorely outmatched and outgunned.

‘Since summer 2022, approximately 800 T-62s have been taken from storage and some have received upgraded sighting systems which will highly likely improve their effectiveness at night.

‘However, both these vintage vehicle types will present many vulnerabilities on the modern battlefield, including the absence of modern explosive reactive armour.’ 

The armoured hybrids were seen being loaded for transport, presumably to the frontlines

A destroyed tank in the village of Tsupivka, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

A destroyed tank in the village of Tsupivka, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

A resident walks past a damaged church and a destroyed Russian tank in the town of Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region, last week

A resident walks past a damaged church and a destroyed Russian tank in the town of Svyatohirsk, Donetsk region, last week

Picture shows destroyed Russian tank in Maryinka, Donetsk region, Ukraine in undated footage

Picture shows destroyed Russian tank in Maryinka, Donetsk region, Ukraine in undated footage

Though the conflict’s frontline stretches for many hundreds of miles, the most bitter fighting continues to rage in the Donetsk region, particularly in the city of Bakhmut and nearby towns.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday the capture of Bakhmut was key to launching a further offensive in the wider region, despite many analysts doubting its wider strategic importance.

‘This city is an important defensive hub for Ukrainian troops in Donbas,’ Shoigu said of the industrial east of the country.

‘Capturing it will allow for further offensive operations deep into the defence lines of the Ukrainian armed forces,’ he told a televised meeting of military officials.

The battle for Bakhmut is now the longest-running and bloodiest of Russia’s year-long military intervention in Ukraine, and both sides have doubled down in the fight for its control.

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a trench near Russian positions near Bakhmut, March 5, 2023

A Ukrainian soldier sits in a trench near Russian positions near Bakhmut, March 5, 2023

The fighting around Bakhmut has seen First world War-style trench warfare unfold as both sides batter one another with artillery while sheltering in ditches

The fighting around Bakhmut has seen First world War-style trench warfare unfold as both sides batter one another with artillery while sheltering in ditches

Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 5, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 5, 2023

Bakhmut, an industrial town once known for its sparkling wine production and salt mines, had an estimated pre-war population of some 80,000 people.

But Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told regional media on Tuesday that fewer than 4,000 civilians now remain.

‘Approximately 38 children, as far as we know, remain in Bakhmut today,’ Vereshchuk said.

Both Moscow and Kyiv said on Tuesday that the fight was exacting a huge cost in military personnel on the opposing side.

The Ukrainian military said Moscow’s forces were launching attacks on Bakhmut and its outskirts ‘despite significant losses’.

Shoigu meanwhile said there was a ‘significant increase in losses’ among Ukrainian forces during recent fighting for Bakhmut.

Neither side has published official tolls from fighting in the Donetsk region, which Moscow claimed to have annexed into Russia last year.

source: dailymail.co.uk