Ukrainian brigade sets record with dramatic Russian tank blast

Soldiers from the Ukrainian 60th Mechanized Brigade have shared recordings of repelling a Russian assault in the Donetsk region. One of the hit tanks exploded with such force that it set a new record in what can be humorously referred to as the "turret tossing" competition. We explain why Russian tanks explode so spectacularly.

The recording below shows how soldiers of the 60th Mechanized Brigade, operating near the town of Torske, eliminated one of the Russian assault groups, which consisted of BMP infantry fighting vehicles and tanks with the distinctive "armored barn" superstructure. More details are here.

The Russians were attacked with artillery, including cluster munitions, and swarms of FPV drones. One of these drones hit a Russian tank, which exploded with tremendous force. The explosion was impressive, and the turret rose, according to OSINT specialists, to about 249 feet. This was calculated based on the number of pixels in the recording, using the actual diameter of the turret, whose real-world measurement is known.

Russian tanks starting from the T-64 and T-72 models and their modernizations utilize a low-positioned autoloader due to nuclear warfare requirements at the time. This design allowed for the removal of the loader and the use of a very low turret, thus making the tank harder to detect.

This was an interesting concept, but in practice, it resulted in zero safety for the crew. The ammunition supply for tanks in the T-72 and T-90 families uses a carousel with horizontally arranged shells and propellant charges. It holds 22 pieces and is positioned at the bottom of the hull.

The only thing separating it from the crew is a steel plate, but unlike tanks such as the Leopard 2 or the M1 Abrams, there are no structures to redirect the force of an explosion outward. This means that any damage to the ammunition store directs the force of the explosion toward the weakest points: the plate mentioned above and the turret mount.

Additionally, when a larger number of shells and propellant charges are being carried, they are often simply stored all around the turret. Apparently, the hit Russian tank was full of ammunition with a much more powerful explosive or propellant mixture. As a result, it led to the strongest recorded explosion of a Russian tank (at least among those analyzed).