Russian forces are deploying armored turtle-like vehicles in combat operations, devoid of cannons.
In the early days of April, Russian troops began utilizing armored vehicles resembling turtles on the Ukrainian battlefield. Recent developments have seen Russian soldiers exhibiting a revised version of these steel colossi. This upgraded vehicle offers a larger interior for infantry, but it seems to be lacking in its primary weaponry.
A Russian maintenance unit is said to have transformed a battle tank into a troop transporter in Ukraine, as reported by the pro-Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi. According to Militarnyi, Russian soldiers provided a demonstration of the modified vehicle in a video, although the exact time and location of the recording are uncertain.
A T-80 tank can be seen in the circulating social media clip, fitted with a makeshift roof made of steel plates. The vehicle is protected all around by a 360-degree shield made from metal grilles, supposedly to safeguard it from suicide drones. The tank's turret, complete with its cannon, has apparently been removed to accommodate more soldiers aboard. The tank's base is lined with sandbags, asserted to shield infantry from mine explosions.
Militarnyi proposes that the conversion is due to escalating Russian losses of armored vehicles and personnel carriers. The portal also theorizes that the T-80 may have been previously damaged and not functioning optimally before the modifications. According to Oryx, a research platform that tracks war losses through images and videos, Russian forces have suffered over 4,800 armored vehicles and personnel carrier casualties since the onset of spring 2022 in Ukraine.
The presented vehicle in the video falls under the category of an updated model of the so-called turtle-like armored vehicles that first surfaced in April. Initially, Ukrainian forces struggled to counter these monstrous vehicles due to a scarcity of ammunition.
However, as summer started, an increasing number of videos emerged depicting destroyed turtle-like armored vehicles. In mid-June, Ukrainian soldiers managed to capture a drivable one for the first time.
The footage from the 46th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in July last year demonstrates that the structures in the clip do not provide total protection against artillery strikes and drone attacks. As evidence, footage of at least one Russian tracked vehicle with a makeshift steel roof being destroyed emerges in the clip. The tank cannon is nowhere to be seen on the vehicle. According to the unit, the clip was recorded in the vicinity of the village of Marjinka in the Donetsk region.
The military strategy of converting T-80 tanks into troop transporters might be a response to the significant loss of armored vehicles and personnel carriers from the Russian side, as suggested by Militarnyi. The upgraded T-80, lacking its primary weaponry, could be an attempt to protect infantry frommine explosions and suicide drones on the battlefield.
