Russia Stuffing 'Antiquated' Vehicles With Explosives, Most Fail: U.K.

Russia is using "antiquated" military vehicles filled with improvised explosives against Ukrainian forces, according to a new assessment.

Russia's high tank losses have been well documented throughout the war, and Moscow has turned to pulling its mothballed tanks, like the T-55, out of storage for deployment against Ukrainian forces. But experts suggested these decades-old tanks will be far less effective than newer, upgraded and maintained models.

Reports had previously suggested Russia was using the stocks of its outdated T-54 and T-55 tanks packed with several tons of explosives to target Ukrainian positions in the contested eastern Donetsk region.

Referencing these reports, the British Defense Ministry suggested on Wednesday that Russian tank crews fit the armored vehicles with the vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) before evacuating the vehicle and sending it towards the target.

However, a majority of the improvised explosives "have almost certainly detonated before they reached their target" because of anti-tank mines and direct fire, the ministry said in its daily update posted to Twitter.

But the VBIEDs "cause extremely large explosions, which are still likely to have a psychological effect on defending forces," it added.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

In mid-June, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had sent a remotely detonated armored personnel carrier brimming with explosives towards Ukrainian troops. It destroyed a Ukrainian stronghold and observation post, the ministry said at the time.

Footage of a detonating, explosive-filled tank quickly circulated on social media after being shared by a Russian military blogger, reportedly filmed in the Marinka area of eastern Ukraine.

Referencing the footage, former U.S. Army Europe chief, Mark Hertling, wrote on Twitter on June 19: "Pack a tank with explosives, have a volunteer drive it, then jump off after pointing it toward the enemy. What a stupid way to conduct armored operations by the Russians."

Analysts previously told Newsweek that organizational and planning failures and unmotivated troops, after the best were wiped out in the first waves of the war, have left few to train the next generation of tank crews.

Marinka, not far from the fiercely contested city of Bakhmut, has seen heavy fighting with much of its infrastructure destroyed.

Many examples of Russian VBIEDs have been reported in and around Marinka, the British government said, adding that these reports started to come in after Chechen forces working under leader Ramzan Kadyrov entered the area.

"There is a realistic possibility that Chechen forces are pioneering the tactic," the U.K. Defense Ministry said.

Fighters from the southern Russian republic have been in Ukraine since the early days of the war, and have reportedly been deployed in recent weeks to Bakhmut and Marinka.

"[Chechen] Akhmat forces have allegedly been fighting in Marinka for over a month and have yet to produce the significant breakthroughs that they promised," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said on Monday.

Chechen fighters are thought to have used improvised explosive devices during the years of war in Chechnya following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said.

Chechens fighting on behalf of Kyiv, unlike those under Kadyrov's command, also reportedly used VBIEDs in early 2023, the British government added.