Russia's One-Of-A-Kind Supertank Destroyed By Ukraine

Ukraine appears to have succeeded in destroying a one-of-a-kind Russian tank equipped with multiple defences.

Known as the T-80UM2, the tank was seemingly first thought up in the late 1990s and was based on an upgraded chassis from the existing T-80U vehicle, however only one was ever made as the tank never entered production.

The unique tank appears to have met a bitter end in Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the country last month, with images from the war zone showing the tank destroyed alongside other vehicles.

The damaged vehicle was identified by researchers at the Oryx blog, which has a page dedicated to "Documenting Equipment Losses During The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine." The researchers have been compiling visual evidence of the losses to keep track of what has been destroyed, and claimed the T-80UM2 was either destroyed on 17 March, or found damaged on that date following an earlier attack.

The other vehicles around the tank indicate it was part of a larger column which came under attack by Ukrainian forces.

When it was created, the tank was decked out with a welded-steel turret with advanced armour protection, including Kaktus explosive reactive armour, as well as a system known as the Drozd-2 active protection system which used radar to detect incoming anti-tank rockets and anti-tank missiles, The Drive reports.

Upon detecting these weapons the T-80UM2 would automatically fire high-explosive fragmentation munitions with an aim to either destroy them or hinder them approximately 20-30 feet from the tank.

Inside, the gunner would be seated on the right of the turret while the commander would take a position on the left.

Though the tank was seemingly very well kitted out, whatever it came up against managed to knock off its turret and burn out its hull. It's unclear exactly how it was hit, but reports suggest it was targeted in Sumy Oblast, in northeastern Ukraine.

Russia has largely kept quiet about its military personnel and equipment losses since the start of the invasion, but images of burned-out tanks and abandoned convoys in Ukraine indicate the army has suffered big losses.

The Oryx blog has reported 1706 equipment losses so far, including 826 destroyed, 32 damaged, 221 abandoned and 627 captured.

Speaking to The Washington Post about the impact of the losses, former US Marine Rob Lee said that while he doesn't think Ukraine forces can push Russia out of the country, he also doesn't think "Russian forces can take that much more of Ukraine."

Topics: World News, Ukraine, Politics, Russia

Emily Brown