Pictures of Soviet T62 tanks arriving at the Melitopol railway station in Ukraine during the Cold War. Melitopol in eastern Ukraine is currently an active war zone. It is not clear whether these Soviet tanks were delivered for Russian troops or for separatists in Ukraine. Decades-old tanks have been seen entering the battlefield amid reports of heavy damage to Russian military tanks and weapons during the three-month-long war.
Russia has 10,000 tanks and 8,500 armored vehicles, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Of these, 2,500 were Soviet-era T62 tanks. The newly released images add to the propaganda that Russia is facing a shortage of modern weapons in the war zone. Websites, including The War Zone, report that Russia may not launch T62 tanks without the need for new tanks.
Russia’s T72, T80 and T90 tanks were severely damaged in Ukraine. Russian tanks have been devastated by anti-tank missiles and drone strikes. Russia has lost 1,300 tanks in Ukraine, according to the Kyiv Independent. Russia has lost regarding 700 tanks, according to Orix, an independent open source analyst. The actual figures are thought to be much higher.
The Soviet Union began building T62 tanks in 1962. Over the next eight years, the Soviet Union built 20,000 T62 tanks. But the T62 tanks did not achieve the expected gains on the battlefield. The Soviet Union halted production of the T62 by 1975, as delays in one mission and sometimes problems at the top were exacerbated. But in the 80s the Soviet Union itself decided to modernize the T62 tanks. T62 tanks with modified ammunition, engine and fire control system are now reported to have been found in Ukraine.
This is not the first time Russia has taken T-62 tanks out of the tunnel. These Russian tanks played a major role in the invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Russia extracted T62 tanks during the Chechen occupation of the 1990s and the conflict with Georgia in 2008. The last time these Soviet-generation tanks were seen was in Syria in 2020.
At the same time, there is an argument that these tanks are not for the Russian military but for pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists. Ukrainian separatists have already received non-modern weapons from Russia. Such weapons and separatists have helped them not to give up influence in the territories of Ukraine, which were previously occupied by Russia. There are indications that Russia has also deployed Soviet-era tanks to help as the Russian military expands its influence to more areas. The Drive.com reports that Russia is in a position to bring its old tanks to the battlefield, despite various interpretations.
English Summary: Russia Deploys 50-Year-Old T-62 Tanks To Ukraine
