Ukrainian officials are claiming something of a Russian invasion against the eastern separatist-held region of the country today, releasing video of three aging T-72 main battle tanks rolling through the streets of Snizhne, in eastern Donetsk Oblast.
Ukraine claims the tanks, backed by armored personnel carriers, “snuck into” Donetsk across the border, at checkpoints held by the rebels. Russia denied the report and said they had no information about the tanks.
The T-72 was the backbone of the Soviet Union’s armored forces, and both Ukraine and Russia’s militaries have thousands stored in reserve. It is unclear who is in control of these three particular tanks, though there is some speculation that the rebels acquired them somehow.
Ukraine is insisting that the tanks are proof Russia is arming the rebels, though that is unclear at this point, and indeed, three T-72 tanks don’t seem likely to amount to a serious game-changer on the ground.
These are actually T-64BV tanks, which are in active service in Ukraine, but have been withdrawn from Russian service for years. Clearly these are Ukrainian tanks that have been acquired by the rebels.
The referenced video shows a convoy being led by a military cargo truck with a Russian flag flying in the back, followed by three tanks and brought up in the rear by another military cargo truck towing a small howitzer. I guess the armored personnel carriers that Kiev claims were part of this "invasion" got lost in city traffic.
Yeah, three tanks all by their lonesome with no AA support or infantry. How ordered a suicide mission?
Also, that DAILY FAIL article
> "Russia uses T-72 tanks but Ukraine does not."
> "Pictured is a Ukrainian tank during a battle with pro-Russian separatists at Slovyansk last week"
TFW!
prolly an amwrikan provocation..DUH AND DAH
The whole thing looks like a publicity stunt by the rebels and confirms that they are on their last legs. The tanks were in all probability stolen from the Ukrainina army but as Mr Ditz points out, the Russian army has the same decrepit equipment. It could well be an attempt to provoke the confrontation Putin has so carefully avoided. Tanks cannot slip past border police unnoticed! Another possibility is that the tanks are a diversion designed to allow the identified leaders of the rebellion to slip accross into Russia. Since tanks are the ultimate gas guzzlers, I can't imagine that the rebels will be able to make much use of them for very long.
The separatists captured the tanks from the Ukrainian neo-nazis. Ukraine has been using white phosphorus weapons against civilians in Slavyansk. A US military transport aircraft has been recorded at Kiev airport a da or so ago.