Hear what Russians think about Western tanks for Ukraine

The number of tanks is very important. But what's critical to remember is the vehicles that must travel with tanks for an effective assault, an integrated arms team of tanks, Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and Armored Personnel Carriers is essential. The Russians sent out tanks without such an integrated tactical support structure, and the Ukrainian game of Tank Turret Toss began. Those essential support vehicles have also been promised to Ukraine, the Bradley's, Strykers, and similar vehicles from other nations. But how many, and when? The arrival of them and working to turn them into an integrated assault team working with each tank will make the critical difference between an effective assault force and a Russian version of Tank Turret Toss. I worry about the fact that it will be a mix and match between vehicles from different countries, with lots of differences to be worked out. For effective war to regain their nation, Ukraine will need these vehicles, ammo, communications, and support from drones, artillery, and aircraft. Any lack in any of these other areas will cripple the effectiveness of the whole. A combined arms approach to an assault is key to success, unlike the stupid way the Russians have been fighting, burning through troops with unsupported or poorly supported attacks. Sending out tanks with no infantry support. Sending out infantry with no mobility, No IFV, not even APC support. The Russian officers are incredibly bad at their jobs. Any video-game playing kid from the USA could do better. BTW, I used to be a tank driver, a real tank driver, not a video-game tank driver.

Sometimes its hard to imagine how we humans made it this far

"it takes a year to transport 30 tanks halfway across the globe"
It does not take a year to transport 30 tanks across at most 1 month for " low priority shipment"

Im from Germany and was faced so much hate during all of 2022. There was the claim that Germany would have blocked other countries from sending Leopard tanks. Now, 2 months after green light there is only a little number of Leopard coming from other countries and mostly the old 2A4 version. I feel betrayed. not mentioning that ukraine is being betrayed in much more physical terms.

Western tanks have a proven track record and it's a very enviable one. Their lethality and crew survivability has been proven time and time again. The Abrams has only lost a few in decades, the Challenger 1 and 2 has only had 1 taken out of action in combat. The Leopard 2 has an excellent reputation. The 120mm German smoothbore and the 120mm rifled Challenger guns are without peer, and the Chobham armour is unparalleled, although the tanks supplied could be stripped of their Chobham for secrecy reasons. Granted there could be losses but it won't be anything like the Russian losses. Tank on Tank the Western tanks have proven themselves against Russian tanks in the past.

My heart hurts every time I hear this .

A modernized version of the self-propelled howitzer, designated M109A1, appeared in the US Army in the early 1970s. It featured a barrel lengthened by 2.44 m, a more effective muzzle brake, improved suspension and an easier loading mechanism. After the introduction of an enhanced charge, the firing range of a conventional projectile increased to 18.1 km, and when using an active-rocket projectile - up to 24 km. And the ammunition load of 36 rounds included nuclear projectiles and guided cumulative projectiles M712 "Copperhead" with a laser seeker. The crew of the self-propelled guns - 6 people.
The combat weight of the M109A2 self-propelled gun is already about 25 tons, the armament is a 155 mm M126 howitzer and a 12.7 mm M2 machine gun. The power plant is Detroit Diesel with a capacity of 405 hp. The maximum speed is 56 km/h, the power reserve is about 350 km. Subsequent variants of the M109 self-propelled gun were developed with the aim of further increasing the firing range and automating the fire control system. The most advanced versions are the M109A6 "Paladin" and its improved version M109A7, which uses a digital fire control system and an improved semi-automatic loading system, a 155-mm M284 gun on the M182A1 machine, an automatic loader, the base chassis from the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The mass of the vehicle has grown and exceeded 36 tons, with the possibility of building up to 50 tons if additional armor is required.
But so far, these self-propelled guns are coming to Ukraine not from the United States, but from other countries. Since May last year, more than 20 Norwegian M109A3GN self-propelled guns have been on the “balance sheet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, as part of the 28th and 72nd mechanized brigades. Self-propelled guns from Latvia were also seen, which purchased American M109 self-propelled guns at a rather high price in Austria, which in turn purchased them from the UK. Now London is going to buy its own M109s from the Austrians in order to deliver them to Kyiv. This circulation of self-propelled guns in Europe is due to the fact that Ukraine urgently needs to compensate for their "natural decline" - as the Russian Ministry of Defense reported, on January 29, two more "Paladins" were destroyed near the city of Kramatorsk.

Everyone is saying that humanity is going extinct soon, but I personally think it’s amazing we’ve made it this far considering the stuff that happens in our politics

Brave, brave heroes. I cannot imagine the fear in those trenches. It's heartening to see when they move past that fear to a righteous anger. I don't know how they somehow maintain their integrity whilst capturing the enemy either.

It does NOT need a year to transport 30 tanks halfway across the world. In the autumn of 1990 it took a couple of months to transport several hundred tanks to Saudi Arabia for desert shield and then desert storm. One C-5 Galaxy can transport 2 fully equipped tanks. The USA has around 120 C-5's in service.

1) Modern weapons are vastly more lethal than any weapons we have encountered on the battlefield before.
2) In order to cope with these weapons it is essential we have a highly trained and highly skilled combined arms team.
3) The training of the individual as well as the team will make the difference between success and failure on the battlefield.

It's good to see some people have the courage to speak their minds. On the other hand, claiming that your side is winning doesn't stop that bullet with your name on it.

At the same time, it should be noted that Britain also has its own self-made self-propelled guns. In this row, the 105-mm gun F.V.433 "Abbot" and the 155-mm howitzer AS-90, the decision to supply which to Ukraine was made only recently. According to Defense Minister Ben Wallace, the delay was due to the fact that British experts expressed doubts about the "ability of Ukrainian gunners to master these machines and use them effectively." However, in January, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the delivery of 14 Challenger main battle tanks and 30 AS-90 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv.
The AS-90 self-propelled artillery mount is made on a tracked chassis with a rotating turret. The hull and turret are protected by 17 mm steel armor. The main armament is a BAE Land Systems 155-mm howitzer (barrel length 39 calibers). The gun is equipped with an ejector and a muzzle brake. Guidance drive - electric. For autonomous operation of artillery systems, there is an auxiliary diesel engine. All standard 155 mm NATO ammunition is used, including trajectory-corrected ones.
In the same ranks with the "Leopards"
Against the background of the informational noise around the supply of Leopards to Kyiv, few people paid attention to the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are already armed with no less effective German-made weapons. We are talking about the PzH 2000 artillery system (Panzerhaubitze-2000) - a self-propelled artillery mount developed by Krasus-Maffei Wegman in 1998.

i dont think the early versions will be the best considering their insanely little armour on the hull and the ammo storage in said hull, even early versions of rpg's ect coud easily penetrate said hull armour, therefor i think challanger and abrams will be far better for this type of war

The Ukrainians need to be trained on one type and have them deployed in sufficient strength. Having M1A1s, Challengers and Leopards on the same battlefield will be a logistical nightmare. They all require a high level of maintenance. Fortunately, they take the same calibre ammunition. The numbers promised are insufficient for total victory. I anticipate some local gains for Ukraine in the Spring, but would be surprised if these expected gains can be sustained. Various types in penny-packets will be sufficient to turn the tide of the war. If the West really cares about Ukraine, either give them what they need, or let them make peace!

According to Finland, they spent alot on F-35's. So, they have alot of " outdated"Hornets " to give to Ukraine. They apologized, and Zalenski said, " no problem. We like those jets.". ( Referring to the FA-18 Hornets).

Better to overestimate an enemy then underestimate but the m1 has gone toe to toe with Russian tanks before in Iraq and the tech has only gotten better while Russia is digging out t 62 tanks from storage that haven’t seen the light of day in decades tanks the Russian government said they got ride of because they were considered obsolete in the 70s kinda funny because a lot of equipment sent to Ukraine was designed in the 80s

I think that 16 Leopard 2 tanks are supposed to be given or lent to Ukraine. It will do a bit of damaged, but, not much if we take in account that Ukraine has approx 2000 tanks if I remember well at the begining of the war. NATO and the Americans played with Russia to try to weaken it, but it was a very very very high risk.

As a rule it’s usually a bad idea to downplay the strength of your enemy. Because if you win it because the enemy was shit anyway. If you lose...well you lost to weaker opponent.

Success of any military operations with tanks etc depends on combined arms manoeuvre, if Ukraine can pull off a synchronised attack with all the toys given then the Russians are in trouble, however if other wise then it will be a waste of good armour

It's hilarious how they refuse to talk about the Challanger 2 tank in anyway as if a tank that has had only 1 confirmed loss by friendly fire

3:00 she's spot on but that's true of every war.

Scott Ritter . Most practical analysis of war. Man behind defence treaties of USA and Europe

This makes me sick.
Like can you imagine what the soldiers and friends and family are going thru ?
Whats wild is the fact that people order people around and they're not dealing with shit them self .
Instead just send people to die .
Bruh wtf wtf .
I can't.

In many of the previous engagements between the Abrams and Soviet/Russian tanks in the Middle East the Abrams just about always prevailed, BUT the Middle Eastern militaries operating their Russian tanks did so very ineptly, often using them without infantry support and not coordinating their movements with other assets. It'll be interesting to see how well the Russians manage this themselves against Western tanks. It'll also be interesting to see if the Ukrainians can keep the more maintenance-heavy Western tanks in proper operating condition. Say what you will about Russian tanks, they do manage well with a bare minimum of upkeep. Look how long old Russian tanks have held up in places like Afghanistan...Does the Taliban even know they have oil that needs to be changed???

I am sure they already thought of this but they should have a system where you have to go through certain hurdles to get to become an agent and if you don't go past those turtles then you cannot become an agent do hurdles have to be designed to weave out bad bad people

Street gangs normally have no rules, it's one dog pitted against the next. However, in an organized street gang or mob, both leaders will have a bare fist fight. (I think fight club the movie was generally in this textual reference? Someone please correct me.) So a quick way to settle this fairly and squarely. Of each military wing, all captains of the special operations teams, individually compete one against the other. This is organized in a controlled fighting arena, like martial arts or boxing. This way of apportioning anger and violence against one another, in a controlled environment will save thousands of lives, permitting the common civilian in Russia and the Ukraine get on with their life. Blood running out of civilians will be retained, not the blood from the heads of unthinking belligerent autocrats. (none of what I said would ever take place, it is a dream idea) God save us humanimals from extinction..

Good report from Nic Robertson.

Russian commentators are whistling in the dark. However, it is not just about the tanks for Ukraine pure and simple, it's about logistics, especially fuelling and maintenance. Tanks are very logistic heavy and they have to travel, which Russia learned to its cost at the start of the war. It is not a lesson lost on NATO. They have to take their time. Himars don't take so much logistical support.

Fact is, Western tanks aren't invincible, but the crews can be trained to make them seem invincible. If the Ukrainian crews can keep up with maintenance and get some experience, they may give Russian crews a run for their money, even in the few T-90's that are left.

Remember when the media told us that the war in Afghanistan was going so well? Yeah.

The Russians have been historically good in defence. I assume, with Ukrainian forces occupied in defending Bakhmut, that Russia has bought itself enough time to improve its defences in the Crimea and Zaporizhe. Whether Russia's preparations will be enough to counter a trained Ukrainian assault, with new technology, western intelligence and Ukrainian fervour, I don't know. History will tell. I wish Ukraine well and great success. Long live Ukraine.

I've been studying the wrong Russian language long enough, I have every intention of going to Russia, one day, regardless of political or global circumstances!

The PzH 2000 is equipped with a 155 mm L52 howitzer with a 52-caliber barrel length, a navigation system, an automated fire control system, a manual loading system with 60 rounds of ammunition and 228 modular propellant charges, a fire detection and automatic fire extinguishing system, and a WMD protection system. The self-propelled guns are capable of firing three shells in nine seconds or ten in 56 seconds at a distance of up to 30 km. The firing range of the gun with an active-rocket projectile is up to 40 km.
In addition, PzH 2000 can operate in automatic mode. The on-board computer is capable of independently directing the gun from target to target, receiving data via radio from an external control center. The weight of the self-propelled gun is just over 55 tons. Crew - 5 people.

If you watch mainstream media be either in Russia or the US, you are being grossly misinformed, and I’m UNDERSTANDING it by a lot.

Asking people on the streat is kind of pointless though. Even if they are honest, which they most likely aren't because of the fear of the government comming after them, it's still just anecdotal at best.

We are 7 months later, what has happened?
Well unfortunately the Russian propaganda has shown to be true.
The Western tanks, the Leopard 2 has proven a massive fail.
There have been two duels documented on video. A T80BVM at 2km taking out a Leopard 2A6 from the front.
And a second a T72B3M surprising a Leopard 2A4 and shooting it straight through its frontal armour.
Only the Abrams still have a posibillity to prove itself.

If you disregard the context, that tanke schon pun is actually pretty good 😂

To drive from the western side of Germany to Kiev takes 20 hours non-stop. From Poland and other countries, who also possess Leopard tanks, about the same. If these tanks are available and operable, they could be delivered to the Ukraine within days. The other stuff is a bit more time consuming - training, maintenance, ammunition, spare parts etc. The major foot dragger by far is political procrastination.

That first lady saying its gonna be very bad if we send tanks is about to be really REALLY confused when she starts seeing NATO tanks driven by Ukrainians destroying Russian tanks easily.

The tanks we (US) send to other countries are export versions of the ones we use ourselves, they are skeletonized to hell, they don't get up to date versions, not even close

With freedom and opportunity comes responsibility.
This was true during the American Revolution - and it is true now.

Thought they were not allowed to call it a "war" under threat of imprisonment

Well done world leaders setting such a good example to the world blowing each other up.

There may be good reasons to the contrary but it seems to me prop driven fighters could be very useful to Ukraine. They are cheap, could carry heavy cannons and machine guns and bombs. These aircraft are easy to train the pilots for, easy to fly and could fly low strafing the Russians across the battlefield. I know jets are referred but there could be some real advantages to using this WW2 tech.

The whole thing is just shocking.

I know the truth. There are some good people in law enforcement but there's also some bad ones and somebody has to come up with a system to leave out the bad

So Ukraine is now showing off it's Challenger 2s, Marders, MRAPs, Strikers, Cougars, etc in country - while at the same time Russia is sending T-55s from its museums to the front.
T-55s didn't exactly perform well in GW1 or 2 against Western opposition.

The Ukrainians recently did a press conference on the capabilities of Russian's most advanced tank, the T-90M of which a number were captured entirely intact. The basic rundown was that it just a T-72B3 with some better armor and optics but take away all of that and it you are left with a poor man's T-72. They also commented that the Leopards they will be getting are far superior to the T-90M.

Russia overestimated their power and underestimated the West. That's why they thought they'd steamroll Ukraine in a few days or weeks. Apparently they refuse to learn from those costly lessons.

Russians: "The tanks are not significant and will not affect our invasion of Ukraine."
Russians also: "The tanks will escalate the war and we will respond."

The results speak for themselves. Lot of abandoned and/or destroyed armor lying around.

Imma real excited to see some T-72,T-80 and T-90 crews to get promoted as cosmonots by Leo 2s and Abrams.

It's not the weapons but the advanced technology in every targets prolonged accuracy to contact the subject for complete destruction , meaning theirs no escape from the weapons strike

Lol imagine an air raid over Moscow in this day and age or like a battle of Moscow today 😂

They don't have a ton of T-90s in Ukraine. Most of what they have deployed are T-72 and 62s. Very old, very much not close to leopards or American Abraham tanks.

"I think this war is a political war" is the most accurate assessment. Putin invaded Ukraine because he knows a leader at war gains support. His support had dipped into the sixties before the invasion. After, it went to the eighties. People always rally around their leader in times of war, especially when they are so lied to about the reasons for a war, like the Russian people are in this one. U.S./Iraq was another example.

4 months later. Leopard tank are burning as bright as Tigers, Panthers, Elefants (German for Elephant also known as Ferdinand) in 1940s in the same region. Do not forget American Bradley armored vehicles. 🤣

Senior American army people are also talking the tanks as ineffective and wrong strategy. Certainly a film student is an impeccable source of true news

Do not underestimate enemy, even if it look really weak.

It's hard not to pity this nation and the length Humans can go through to prove themselves right against all sensible or accurate facts.

Typicall western media: “talk about Russian propaganda , hype up the situation to the level of fairy tale and when reality hits hard like it did last week where Ukraine lost counteroffensive along with the hyped up Leopard tanks and Bradleys just ignore the whole situation and change topic “ 😂👍

How him removing independent media didn't ring alarm bells is baffling.

They need to be used properly. In a coordinated tactical assault, preferably with air support.

The M1 Abrams are the best tanks in the world and also the most expensive to operate. Every tank has a small army of support and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to run just one tank each month.

I love the way the world is going crazy

The Ukraine President is saying "we need more tanks". And, the US and other countries are just giving them away. Wow.

And they're putting their life in jeopardy just talking to you!! 😢

I feel bad for anyone in a country they can't express themselves in and there being muted/canceled

I know this is 4 month old now but did she really say Nato to compensate what's been donated?. That's just daft! . The supply of arms was never a Nato initiative to begin with. I don't think certain arms would have been donated in the first place if said countries couldn't replace said stockpile?

So far, a relatively small amount of "western" weapons have decimated certain parts of the Russian military. I dont see why this would be any different, cause lets not forget when the Abrams was designed, it was designed specifically for fighting the Russians, just like Himars was. And we've all seen how effective Himars has been.

All the rooftop anti-air can do nothing if the drones are the 4-wheel kind.

The thing is Russian tanks are being decimated even without western tanks available. How is the introduction of western tanks now going to change the dynamics in favor of Russia now?

"I think it's unfair and we want some, too!"

Zelinsky got some of the tanks they needed, but Russia has thousands already in the battlefield or on the way to the front lines. Allies are moving slow.

Lesson 1: a harvester is not a leopard 2 😂😂😂😂😂

Germany may be sending less than what Ukraine asked for but Germany also going to allow other countries that have the Leopard 2 tanks to transfer then to Ukraine from countries such as Poland. In the end, Ukraine may end up with 400 to 500 or more Leopard 2 tanks, plus upgraded T-72's and lets not forget the M2 Bradly's.

Like anything - its almost impossible to Gage how the majority of people in Russia feel about how things are going. The Kremlin would want you to think that its very popular and the information war within Russia is very much Russia's game to win. There is also almost 100 years of fear and oppression from the state here. Most ordinary people with a brain I think would rather there was no war, as to how they want no war is whats for debate.

Yeah I bet those Russian tanks are way better than American tanks. The abrams has a blowout panel to survive an ammunition explosion. The Russian t-72 t-80 and t-90 all have whole blowout turrets that even eject the crew when the ammo explodes!

The people who are the ones to make key decisions do not have the courage this is a fact from the time the USA abandoned billions of dollars in the enemies hand put a target on this country, these countries are not dumb and seen this as an opportunity, and it is working for them until we restore the USA to her full power and fearless attitude. Each minute it is not treated as WAR it will only cost more lives. we need show force we have already have been told it is war. and the threat is real. lets get this Done! I will be the first in line.

The buildup of the Ukrainian forces to a completely NATO-compatible army with every single system able to integrate with every other NATO army will have to be done eventually anyway. Unless someone can imagine a security arrangement that doesn't include NATO?

It's pointless to ask Russians about the war; they know that trouble awaits them if they say anything negative about it.

As many Leopard II's as possible 500 is a nice round number. Maintenance and repair is a huge problem with main battle tanks.
Having a striking force of tanks that are all of the same make and model is very important.

And our media here may as well be state owned given the lack of critical reporting.

Here’s what Russians think about tank deliveries to Ukraine should be
“Its not my war it’s my presidents war,I mean best of luck to Ukraine sorry for what’s going on….hope the extra armor helps”

This is excellent real-world practice to up our Logistics game for the inevitable confrontation with China, and which is why we should do everything we can to neuter Russia now

I'd say (if I were Zelenskyy) "We only got 2 Leopard tanks..." and quietly bring in 4 more in the back door (if at all possible). What the Russians don't know won't hurt them (until later).

I find it bizarre that countries who buy German weapons need their permission on how they are used. Tanks are made for war & once purchased are the property of the buyer. I sometimes wonder if Germany wants Russia to succeed in order to create an EU army (it has been proposed) to gain greater power; if weapons are under their control then they have total power in Europe without firing a shot.

It's unfortunate they don't know that between the first Gulf War and The Iraq invasion in 2003 the m1 Abrams annihilated more than 300 Russian t72s without taking a single loss. Today Russia is basically only fielding t72 and the slightly faster and more armored t80 in Ukraine so it's going to be basically target practice for the Abrams and leopard If they've trained correctly.

Have watched so many youtube clips. Would love to visit Russia. But what is going on is mad. Russia has been ruined by Puntin (not the Russian people)

Rick Robertson needs to learn the difference between recruitment and conscription!

Well, this video really aged like milk, 4 Leopards destroyed - these are only confirmed by video shooting, I am silent about how many remained outside the cameras... Where is this "impeccable reputation of one of the best tanks in the world?" For you to understand, one of these was pierced by the Lancet drone into the side and simply burned it. A drone for several million rubles burned a tank for several million euros. I am silent about the destroyed Bradleys, there are already a second dozen of them, and maybe even more. People who talked about NATO tanks as some kind of Wunderwaffe, where are you? Why are you silent or say that "there are no invulnerable tanks?" Where is your gamechanger?

I lost it at the "TANKE SCHON" one, that's pretty good.

Ukraine wanted. F-16 Flying Falcons. Helsinki, Finland gave them F/A-18 Hornets.

Leopard-2A6 has 1,000mm thick armour and can penetrate 800mm at 2km at night. The Russian T-90 only has 600mm armour and it’s best ammo can’t penetrate the Leopard, Abrams or Challenger (not from the front). Russian ATGM’s are also virtually impotent. However, there will obviously be losses since the sides and rear are vulnerable.

As a US Military Vet. It is sad to see all the death war brings. However, all I can say to Russia is "Bring it on" I pray for all who have lost love ones in this war. My God Bless those who are trying to bring this war to an end. Especially, for all those Ukrainians who have been force out of their homes. Let freedom ring!

They need to hold the tanks back until the fighters are delivered.The tanks are going to need air cover on the battlefield as well as the infantry supporting them in the offensive.

"Battered Abrams," more like the best MBT in the world, which is combat proven. Unlike that turret launching firecracker coffin on tracks that those idiots have. Thousands of them have been destroyed, that really shows you something doesn't it?

Reporters shouldn’t be reporting how many, only what kind of weapons are headed to Ukraine. Reporters sometimes break a story that gets friendly people killed, just to be the one to break it and score a big journalism win. Reporters are like attorneys 😂

The worst feeling one can have is that of regret. Regret that he could have done something more when he had the opportunity to do so, realizing too late that what he had on hand could have certainly stopped a horrendous tragedy. I hope these leaders soon rise up to the level where President Zelensky is already at.