Ukrainian forces seize advanced Russian T‑72B3 tank as a war trophy

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine consumes hundreds of tons of equipment daily. Tanks, transporters, and other armoured vehicles are usually wholly destroyed and do not return to the front. Losses on both sides often also involve the capture of enemy units. Russians hunt for Western equipment used by Ukrainians that could find application in their army, while Ukrainians try to capture Russian vehicles as trophies.

The Ukrainians recently showcased one such situation. In a recording published by the Ukrainian Front profile on the X platform, the defenders' army boasts of having captured the T-72B3 tank previously belonging to the Russian armed forces. This Russian weapon will now be used to fight against Russians. This is not the first time Ukrainians have captured a T-72B3. A similar incident happened in April when the 12th Special Purpose Brigade "Azov" captured the valuable tank, which is even more helpful for its electronic warfare systems.

The history of the T-72B3 tanks dates back to the 1960s of the last century when the Russians began producing prototypes of the ancestor of the variant mentioned, the T-72. Mass production started a few years later, in 1973, and since then, tanks from the T-72 family have been produced.

The result of these years of work on the development and improvement of the primary Russian tanks is the T-73B3 model – the one that the Ukrainians captured. This represents the modernization underway since 2011 of the T-72B variants, in which the manufacturer primarily focused on improving optoelectronics and adapting loading mechanisms to handle new types of ammunition (missiles from the Świeniec family equipped with a longer penetrator). In the T-72B3, there is a new fire control system, Sosna-U, based on Western Catherine-FC thermal imaging cameras, which, due to sanctions, are sometimes replaced with simpler systems 1PN-96MT-02, which has a target detection range at night of up to about 3 miles. A smoothbore gun 2A45M-5 with stabilization provides greater accuracy and is also responsible for significant defensive capabilities. Changes in the context of armament have led to a weakening of the armour, as carving out space for the loading mechanism from within has reduced the thickness of the armour.

The changes made in the context of modernizing the T-72B3 mean that the tank is one of the best currently in service with the Russian Federation. Although it isn't at the level typically seen with the modern T-90M Proryw, the machine still threatens many pieces of equipment delivered by Western allied states.