File image.
On March 23, photos showing the wreckage of a T-64BM Bulat battle tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surfaced online.
The tank, a deeply modernized Soviet-made T-64, was completely destroyed in the outskirts of the northern city of Chernihiv, most likely as a result of a Russian strike. The Russian military besieged the city from several directions in the very first days of its special military operation in Ukraine.
🇺🇦🇷🇺⚡️Annihilated Ukrainian T-64BM “Bulat”, a modernized version of the T-64 tank in the Chernihiv region. – #military #osint #russia #ukraine pic.twitter.com/tIUF0rZBgX
— Niels Groeneveld (@nigroeneveld) March 23, 2022
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was left with hundreds of T-64 battle tanks. The Bulat upgrade was developed by the Malyshev Factory to give these ageing battle tanks a second life.
Under the upgrade program, dozens of Ukrainian T-64 battle tanks were equipped with the Nizh reactive armor, the 125 mm KBA3 gun and the TO1-KO1ER night sight which has the capability to fire the Kombat anti-tank guided missile.
The T-64BM Bulat weighs 45 tons with its 850 hp 5TDFM multi-fuel diesel engine. The tank can travel at 70 kilometers per hour, with a range of 385 kilometers.
The modernized battle tanks of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, like the T-64BM Bulat, didn’t see much combat since the beginning of the Russian special military operation which raises some serious questions about their combat readiness and capabilities.
According to the most recent briefing by the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the Russian military has destroyed 1,564 battle tanks and other armed vehicles since the start of its special operation in Ukraine.
