Surrender - Twitter

Empire's Twilight? Russia Loses Support in Its Own Backyard

Those shouldn't even be in Russia's backyard anyway. No matter how much land it has it always wants more.

"Outside of Spirne, Donetsk Oblast, a Ukrainian drone from the 54th Mechanized Brigade destroys a disabled Russian T-90M with several VOG grenades."

Actualy what the clip shows is the improved layered armour of the T-90M. The Ukranian drone drops grenade after grenade after grenade without visible damage to the tank. (As a side note, it also shows the T-90 no longer has the fuel barrels at the back which was the rule for all russian tanks before). These grenades may be strong enough for old T-54/62 tanks, but here it's just a total waste of ammunition. Why they even attack a disabled tank is anyone's guess...

It's a T-90M, one of Russia's most modern tanks (entered service in 2016). You'd hope that it would take more than one low yield grenade dropped from a cheap ass drone to destroy it, Lol.

Pretty sure it's fucked by the end of that video with it burning off. The footage is in black and white so it's hard to see the damage but I'm fairly confident that tank isn't going anywhere and the more damage, the better, even if it isn't in bits and pieces.

It's not a waste of ammo either, a disabled tank can still be recovered and repaired later on, it's in fact a very good use of ammo to destroy any tank they come across, disabled or not, in this case it looks disabled because it's stuck in a ditch.

Abandoned vehicles are destroyed by both sides since the very start of the war because it's logical, nobody wants the enemy coming back for their heavy equipment later, one T-90M is potentially worth hundreds of Russian soldiers.

So even if it is still recoverable (which I have my doubts on), it is not a waste of ammo to at least try, the grenade used is mass produced and Ukraine likely has hundreds of thousands, the drones are cheap but deadly whose main use is to drop bombs, Ukraine likely has hundreds.

If the tank sits on Russian held territory it can be recovered and repaired. The more damage Ukraine manages to induce the longer repairs will take.
Though I can't assess the damage I can see that something is burning. Even if it is only the outer sensors that would be a huge accomplishment and worth the use of relatively cheap grenades in comparison.

Edit: Ryuu beat me again by a couple of minutes.

Assume you are the Ukranian side. In the video, the drone is loaded with several grenades. I even doubt it is a single drone as at least 7 grenades are dropped. This means the drone(s) didn't come from far away. Now what are your options, as you know exactly where the tank is grounded?

a) Destroy the tank by dumping grenades after grenades. There is no tactical gain whatsoever.

b) Check the neighbourhood. What are the Russians doing, did they dump the immobilised tank and leave? Are they trying to get back to the tank?

Are you closer to the tank than the enemy? in this case, you can try to get the tank. And the T-90M is not just any tank, it's the Russian flagship tank. I'm sure the US would want a few of those for a peek inside an operating-in-battle tank.

c) Continuously check the neighbourhood if the Russians are trying to recover the tank. Also check radio transmissions in the area what they report/plan. If they do, dump all the grenades you can get on the recovery units. This is a much better prize than the tank itself.

The video doesn't show what is happening within a radius of 1-5 km of the tank. It seems the Ukranian commander operating in that area didn't have the nerve to just wait what the Russians would do with the tank. All the advantages were on his side and he blew it.

My man, I'm pretty sure that the Ukrainians know what they're doing more than us two random users from VGChartz, these drone operators have been doing this for over a year now. Both sides drop bombs on disabled vehicles like this since the start of the war.

- How do you know what distance the drone came from? Do you know what type of drone they're using and its distance capabilities? Do you know how many bombs it can hold? I know they're relatively cheap but that's all.

A. Yes...There is, as I've just said, a disabled tank can be recovered and repaired, destroying it is always the preferable option as opposed to letting it lay there and be recovered later, it's a T-90M as well, as I just said, one of Russia's most modern tanks, it is absolutely a tactical gain to remove it permanently from the battlefield.

B. Pointless to ask because neither of us know what Ukraine did before this video and this video doesn't tell us that. All it shows us is a valuable tank being bombed which was stuck in a ditch, it wasn't just dumped, we can see from the video its nose down into the dirt. 

- If Ukraine gets to the tank, they'll still have to haul its ass out of there, slowly as it's just as easy for Russia to monitor the area with drones as it is Ukraine, Ukrainians aren't just going to be able to hop into a tank they have no experience with and start driving it out of there. In addition, it's right on the frontline, it isn't worth the risk to send soldiers to get one tank, Lol.

- Ukraine has already captured a T-90M, America likely already knows everything they need to about it.

C. Again, we don't know what Ukraine did, we just know they bombed a valuable tank, and again, one tank, especially a modern one, is worth a lot more than dozens of foot soldiers, we aren't in 1910's anymore, Lol.

Drones? They have hundreds. The grenades? Mass produced, likely have hundreds of thousands, taking a cheap drone and mass produced ammo to damage and/or destroy a valuable tank near the frontlines? Absolutely worth it and strategically sound.

What we definitely know is that a captured T-90A was moved to the Aberdeen test center in Maryland. And I guess USA also got or will get that captured and intact T-90M