Ukrainian ambush on Russian tanks: Ukraine’s tractors ‘lethal’ weapon against invasion
Russia’s first mistake was to underestimate the strength of resistance and the capabilities of Ukraine's own smaller armed forces. Russia has an annual defence budget of more than $60bn, compared with Ukraine’s spending of just over $4bn.
FollowRussia has one of the largest and most powerful armed forces in the world, but that has not been apparent in its initial invasion of Ukraine. Amateur videos of Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles being towed across fields and villages by Ukrainian tractors regularly go viral on social media.
Russia’s first mistake was to underestimate the strength of resistance and the capabilities of Ukraine's own smaller armed forces. Russia has an annual defence budget of more than $60bn, compared with Ukraine’s spending of just over $4bn.
Russia has taken heavier than expected losses during the invasion, which began a little more than a month. Videos circulating widely on social media platforms show local farmers recovering damaged or abandoned vehicles from various parts of the country as fighting continues. While some intend to take them apart for scrap, others (which are more functional) are handed over to Ukrainian authorities.
According to several reports quoting Ukrainian authorities, the war-hit nation now has more tanks than it started with on February 24. While the Russians are estimated to have captured or destroyed around 74 tanks since February 24, open-source intelligence analysts suggest that Ukraine has seized at least 117 Russian tanks.
Many of these, unconfirmed videos and fact-finding efforts suggest are now being used to shoot back at Russian troops. Preliminary numbers released by Ukrainian authorities on March 28 indicate that Russia has lost 586 tanks, 73 fuel tanks and 1694 armoured personnel vehicles (amongst other losses) since the war began.
Sharing a compilation video of the many tractor wins that have been recorded in the country over the last month, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry tweeted on Monday, “Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Oscars 2022 Best Supporting Actor: Ukrainian Tractor in The Taming of the Shrew.”
The military vehicles are usually abandoned, broken down, or out of fuel.
