The War in the Ukraine

Used as a stop gap while more T-72/90s could be manufactured/brought from mothball maybe, and now transfered to training?

Surpluswarrior said:

I have seen videos of T-55s being used as field guns.

They pull up a few km from the target zone, and fire as indirectly as they can. Russia still had a stockpile of 100mm at the beginning of the conflict, so this is a way to use up "free" T-55 and 100mm.

T-62s are used as second-line tanks. At the beginning of the Kursk incursion, 2 T-62Ms were caught on their towing vehicles and destroyed by artillery or drones. So those tanks had been rushed in to defend a previously-quiet front.

Rumours are that the T-62 was being used similarly as a defensive tank, for second or third lines that might be breached during offensives. They likely are also used in packs of vehicles assaulting settlements. Some of these assaults have involved a dozen or dozens of older vehicles.

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T-54/55 D-10 gun has a range of 16km. Which is pretty decent when you compare the 122mm D-30 or 2S1 Gvozdika, a howitzer and an SPG most common on both sides of the conflict, has a range of 15km with a GP projectile, 21km+ with RAP or rocket assist projectile. 125mm tank gun has an indirect range of around 10km, if used as a towed gun, known as Sprut, or an SPG using a BMP-3 chassis, the range can go as far as 12km. But I have not seen any Spruts in combat.

Of course the 152mm outranges all, but the 100mm to 122mm category of guns, mortars, and howitzers are so much easier and faster to move around, much faster and easier to place, the shells twice as light and allow vehicles to carry twice the number of shells.

Tanks being in used as fire raid pieces enjoy being able to move quickly after firing, whch helps with survivability and quick response to changes in the battlefield.

I also think the popularity and population of the BMP-3 and BMD-4M with their 100mm guns, have also turned these vehicles into self propelled gun pieces, capable of conducting 'fire raids', where they would move up stealthily, she'll the fortification and strongholds, then fade back. Self propelled mortars are also being used with fire raids.

An example of a 'fire raids'. Tanks that are damaged can be retrieved later and sent back to the repair depots.



Russian counteroffensive in Kursk took 48 sq.km and recaptured two villages.



FABs doing their work, including shutting down a Ukrainian crossing.

Iskanders hit a Ukrainian force concentration in the Sumy or Kursk region.


Molinya FPV strikes at a Ukrainian firing point in a house.


Abrams tank gets knocked out in the Kursk region.


BMP-3 hitting Ukrainian firing positions.


Russians stormed and captured Zelenovka. Novy Komar has also been reported to have fallen to the Russians.


The Russian flag is raised in Uspenovka.


Vandal FPV attacks an M113 in the South Donetsk direction.


Ukrainian tank taken out by the 16th SPN.

Surpluswarrior said:

I have seen videos of T-55s being used as field guns.

They pull up a few km from the target zone, and fire as indirectly as they can. Russia still had a stockpile of 100mm at the beginning of the conflict, so this is a way to use up "free" T-55 and 100mm.

T-62s are used as second-line tanks. At the beginning of the Kursk incursion, 2 T-62Ms were caught on their towing vehicles and destroyed by artillery or drones. So those tanks had been rushed in to defend a previously-quiet front.

Rumours are that the T-62 was being used similarly as a defensive tank, for second or third lines that might be breached during offensives. They likely are also used in packs of vehicles assaulting settlements. Some of these assaults have involved a dozen or dozens of older vehicles.

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Might also make sense to use T62s for turtle tank conversion. It would be a waste to use newer and better tanks for that.

Rumbling in the distance. Tornado-S strikes on targets on the Tsirkunov area of the Kharkhov suburbs.


Iskander strikes at Krivoy Rog. Electricity goes out.


Roschel Senator destroyed in the Toretsk direction by the 9th MR Brigade.


Two destroyed Kozak-7s in Olgovka, Kursk region.


M109 destroyed by a Lancet in the Kursk region.


The Max Krivonos unit in action, taking out two Ukrainian T-72s, two Bradleys, a Maxxpro and a Baba Yaga. The unit consists of ex-AFU who have gone to the Russian side.


Ukrainian fortification stormed by the 68th MR Regiment near Kurakhovo.


Building fortification used by Ukrainian soldiers gets dumped with an antitank mine by soldiers of the 255th Regiment in Uspenovka.


Storm Shadow attack on Berdyansk and Tokmak with Storm Shadow missiles. All allegedly shot down.


More Russian advances in the Pokrovsk sector.


Attack by Ukrainian missiles at Rostov leads to three out of four being shot down and another in a building. No casualties reported.


D-30 howitzer of Group Dniepr working on Ukrainian positions.


A Ukrainian position hit by an FPV drone in Chasiv Yar, by the 98th VDV.


Ukrainian convoy ambushed by FPV drones.

The first real North Korean 170-mm M1989 Koksan self-propelled guns were recorded by eyewitnesses on one of the military trains in Russia. There is little information about the M-1989 Koksan self-propelled guns; they were created in the 1970s on the chassis of T-54, T-62 or Type 59 tanks. With a 170-mm gun, more than 58 calibers long, the M1989 DPRK self-propelled gun can fire shells at a range of up to 40 km, and active-rocket projectiles at a range of up to 60 km.

Ukraine fired six ATACMS and four Storm Shadow missiles against the Kamensky Plant in the Rostov region. Defending are S-400 systems, Buk-M3 and Pantsyr systems. All the ATACMS were shot down and three of the Storm Shadows. Fragments of the fourth appeared to land on a fuel facility.


Russians struck back at the Kramatorsk region where the Ukrainians fired missiles to the Rostov region.


Russian T-80 tanks struck Ukrainian fortifications towards the Kupyansk sector.


Another echelon of North Korean 170mm SPG Koksan spotted in Russian territory.


T-62M with a KMT-5 mining trawl and a large barbecue grill. Someone was just asking where the T-62s went and another guess correctly they are being used as turtle tanks.


Su-27P no. 16 was the subject of an arson attack by a Ukrainian saboteur who infiltrated a Russian air base. Despite being filmed set on fire and claimed destroyed by Ukrainian media, No. 16 turned out to be alive and well. The fire failed to destroy the aircraft.


Rare BMM-4S Ukrainian medical vehicle found abandoned by the Russians. The vehicle is based on the BTR-4E.


Novy Komar captured by the Russian 40th Marine Brigade.


Troops of Group Vostok raise the flag over Zelenovka.


T-64BV taken out by two FPV drones from the 16th SPN in the Kupyansk direction.


Lancet recent kill compilation. Leopard tank immobilized by a Lancet strike. Further damaged by multiple FPV drones before being finished off the by a drone drop. Which shows how tough the tank still is. Multiple SPGs and howitzers which are the usual diet of the Lancet. We also have the rare use of a Lancet striking a house used as a hideout by Ukrainian soldiers, and lastly a Ukrainian patrol ship hit by a Lancet.


Abrams tank struck by two FPV drones in Kursk.

RedMetalSeadramon said:

I have to assume they are mostly there to operate some of their weapons like Hwasong and 170mm systems. It just makes no sense to have them show up and confuse the command structure by having them on front line coordinating with a bunch of them speaking Korean. Much simpler to just point out a location and have them shoot at it.

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I suspect NK is also there for live combat operations experience.

Russian sappers of the Karbyshev engineering battalion have started using FPV drones for mining and demining in Ukraine. The video shows the installation of POM-2 mines and demining using a Russian FPV drone. POM-2 anti-personnel fragmentation mines were developed in the 1980s in the USSR. The POM-2 mine family includes several types of ammunition, the mine weighs 1,500 grams, the amount of explosive is 140 grams, and the radius of continuous destruction is 16 meters. The POM-2 mine explodes after touching one of four nylon threads 10 meters long. The POM-2 mine is not extractable or neutralized, it self-destructs after a period of time, from 4 to 100 hours. The radius of destruction of the POM-2 mine is 16 meters.

Constantinople falls to the Russians.


Ukrainians pushed to the outskirts of Kurakhovo.


A shelter, tank and an SPG were taken out by Lancets in the Sumy region.


French VAB APC attacked by FPV drone with thermals.


Ukrainian Darts kamekaze drone shot down by tank crew.


Kurakhovo captured nearly intact. Like Selidovo, capture of an intact city allows the Russians to turn the city into a logistics hub, and later in the future, to repopulate the city. This follows news that 300,000 people has returned to live in Mariupol.


Warfare has its fads and trends. The latest Russian tactics or trends is throw TM-62 anti tank mines into Ukrainian strongholds like they're grenades. It's making a dent where there's urban warfare like in Toretsk. No need to stop the fortification. Just throw the mine in.

The building has Ukrainian defenders holed up inside.


Compilation of recent drone attacks on Ukrainian tanks and vehicles.


Two Iskanders launched from the Byransk region.


More footage of Tornado-S arrivals in Kherson.


Huge Ukrainian warehouse burned down by Geran drone attack.



Russian flag raised on Novopustynka.


Russian MoD confirms capture of Novopustynka and Uspenovka.


Ukrainian MIC "Luch" Bureau, which handles the design and manufacture of missiles like the Neptun, the Olha, as well as the SBU control point, was struck by Iskanders and Kinzhals in retaliation for the ATACMS and Storm Shadow attacks. With devastating consequences.



Building at the moment when it was struck.


Another body exchange recently took place, 42 Russians to 503 Ukrainians. There are still over 4,000 Ukrainian bodies still in storage with the Russians.