Video shows a Ukrainian drone finding an easy way around a Russian tank’s ‘turtle’ defenses

• A Ukrainian drone has found an easy way to bypass the “turtle” defenses of a Russian tank, a video shows.

• Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said whoever was inside forgot to close the tank’s hatch.

• Russia has equipped some of its tanks with elaborate defenses, with mixed results.

A dramatic video shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday showed an aerial drone finding a simple way to bypass the formidable “turtle” defenses of a Russian tank.

The footage, captured by Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade, shows the drone racing towards a Russian tank before sneaking through an open hatch in the front of the armored vehicle, before exploding.

“The occupants made a ‘turtle’ tank, but forgot to close a hatch… Ukraine’s drone pilots do not forgive such mistakes,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in the accompanying text.

The Ukrainian 93rd Mechanized Brigade, which shared a longer version of the video on Wednesday said the attack occurred near the city of Bakhmut.

He described the tank as a death sentence when it hit a dam previously mined by his soldiers. Pilots from the brigades’ Black Raven unit pulled out the disabled tank, he said.

It did not specify when the attack occurred.

Russia has resorted to equipping some of its tanks with raw metal structures to try to combat deadly threats on the battlefield, including exploding drones.

One “Turtle” tank was located equipped with a tent-like metal structure, while another one was seen with pallets on it.

Improvised armor can be as simple as a wire cage wrapped around the outside of a vehicle, often called “roll cages.” Military observers question its effectiveness.

These improvised and often unwieldy efforts are intended to provide a last-ditch defense against incoming projectiles such as artillery, anti-tank missiles or small drones.

Ukraine already had released videos showing drones shooting down Russian “turtle” tanks on the battlefield.

But in a publish at X in April, Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said the modifications show the Russians are adapting to the battlefield, where Ukraine has many first-person view drones but no anti-tank missiles and enough mines. and artillery.

“So it makes sense to sacrifice observation and the ability to rotate the turret on one tank per platoon, which can interfere with many FPV frequencies at the same time,” he said.

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