A Ukrainian Officer’s Captured Russian Tank Wasn’t Working. So He Called Tech Support—In Russia.
A Ukrainian Officer’s Captured Russian Tank Wasn’t Working. So He Called Tech Support—In Russia.
David Axe Forbes Staff I write about ships, planes, tanks, drones, missiles and satellites. Following Oct 1, 2023, 12:55pm EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A captured T-72B3 in Ukrainian service. Wikimedia Commons In the 20 months of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, the Ukrainian army has captured around 200 of Russia’s T-72B3 tanks. The T-72B3, a product of Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, is one of Russia’s newer tanks. And unlike, say, the T-64BV, the T-80U or the T-72AMT, Ukrainian industry doesn’t have much experience with the type. So when a Ukrainian tanker with the callsign “Kochevnik” ran into problems with his captured Russian T-72B3—problems local expertise couldn’t immediately solve—he called Uralvagonzavod tech support. And incredibly, the help line actually helped . Militarnyi captured Kochevnik’s calls on video. Kochevnik serves in the Ukrainian army’s 54th Mechanized Brigade, which fights around Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine and operates mostly Soviet-vintage equipment including T-64 tanks and BMP fighting vehicles. It also owns some of Ukraine’s ex-Russian T-72B3s. Kochevnik was trolling the Russians, mostly. But his gripes with his 45-ton, three-person tank were real. The tank had been spewing oil. Its compressors weren’t working. The electrical turret-rotation mechanism kept failing, forcing the crew to rotate the turret with a hand crank. While any tank can be temperamental, the list of malfunctions Kochevnik was dealing with might speak to inconsistent workmanship at Uralvagonzavod’s factories. A Russian who gave his name as Aleksander Anatolevich, who clearly was unaware that Kochevnik was a Ukrainian soldier, promised he’d bring up the problems with the design bureau in Nizhny Tagil—and that he’d also contact the engine-manufacturer in Chelyabinsk. Kochevnik wasn’t done trolling. He also got ahold of Andrey Abakumov, a Uralvagonzavod director. Abakumov asked Kochevnik to describe the tank’s problems in detail on WhatsApp. That’s when Kochevnik finally revealed he’s Ukrainian, and his army had captured the problematic T-72 around Izium late last year. Laughing, Kochevnik ended the call. Follow me on Twitter . Check out my website or some of my other work here . Send me a secure tip . David Axe Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions
Publish Date : 2023-10-01 16:55:55
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