Ukrainian soldier has tricked Russians. Tank manufacturer's helpline helped him

Despite the ongoing war, Ukrainians still manage to maintain a good sense of humor. One of the soldiers decided to call the Russian tank factory, namely the Uralvagonzavod corporation in Nizhny Tagil, for help. We present the background of this conversation and the performance of the T-72B3 tanks.

A Ukrainian soldier serving in the 54th Mechanized Brigade, known, among other things, for its very risky armored charges on enemy trench lines, decided to call the helpline of the Russian tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil regarding problems with captured T-72B3 units. It's worth noting that the Ukrainians have captured over 500 units of various Russian armored equipment.

The Ukrainian recalls that the seized machines suffer from oil leaks and the soldiers are unable to repair the electric turret rotation mechanism, forcing them to use an emergency crank mechanism like in the old T-34 tanks.

The trick worked because the Russians expressed a desire to help by asking the Ukrainian to send a list of problems via WhatsApp. However, he revealed himself in the end by ending the conversation with the greeting "Glory to Ukraine".

Produced since 2011, the T-72B3 tanks are the most numerous machine equipped with the modern Sosna-U fire control system in the Russian army, based on Catherine-FC thermal imaging cameras.

Still in 2021, based on the report "The Military Balance 2021" the Russians were expected to have 1150 tanks of this type, but most likely, in 2022 their number exceeded 1200. However, it should be noted, that based on data from the Oryxspioenkop group, the Russians lost at least 342 T-72B3 tanks.

The T-72B3 is an economical upgrade of the T-72B tanks, as apart from improved optoelectronics, the use of a more accurate 2A45M-5 gun, and adapting the loading mechanism to new anti-armor ammunition with a longer penetrator from the Świeniec family, no other changes like electric type, turret rotation system were introduced.

The rest of the tank remained untouched except for the replacement of the old Kontakt-1 reactive armor with the slightly less old Kontakt-5 in machines from earlier production batches. As a result, we're dealing with a tank that may be inferior to the T-90M or the newer T-72B3M upgrade, but still poses a threat to, for example, older Leopard 2A4s.