The Ukrainian coup government claims that Russian tanks crossed the border and are in use by federalists in east Ukraine. First claims talked about three Russian T-72 tanks but later claims changed the type of the tank to T-64s. The tanks can be seen driving here (vid) and here (vid).
The U.S. State Department is now endorsing that claim:
The State Department said Friday that Russia had sent tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in Ukraine, supporting accusations Thursday by the Ukrainian government.A convoy of three T-64 tanks, several BM-21 multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles crossed the border near the Ukrainian town of Snizhne, State Department officials said. The Ukrainian Army reported Friday that it had destroyed two of the tanks and several other vehicles in the convoy.“This is unacceptable,” said Marie Harf, the deputy State Department spokeswoman. “A failure by Russia to de-escalate this situation will lead to additional costs.”
…
The T-64 is an obsolescent tank no longer in active use by Russian forces, but still stored in southwest Russia.“Russia will claim these tanks were taken from Ukrainian forces, but no Ukrainian tank units have been operating in that area,” the State Department said Friday. “We are confident that these tanks came from Russia.”
There are several lies in this State Department claims. Ukrainian tank units are operating in the area against federalists. Here are several photos (scroll down) from Associated Press showing them – also pic 7 here. The tanks re T-64 BV, the upgraded subtype used in the Ukrainian army.
T-64BV – Features “Kontakt-1″ reactive armour and “Tucha” 81-mm smoke grenade launchers on the left of the turret.
All Soviet era T-64 tanks were exclusively build and later upgraded in Kharkov, Ukraine. The Ukrainian state dealer Ukrspecexport is still selling such upgraded tanks. Distinct features of the T-64 BV subtype are marked in picture 17 of this gallery at armyrecognition.com. Two smoke grenade launchers at the left side of the turret – none on the right -, the boxes at the rear of the turret and the infrared searchlight to the left of the gun are special T-64 BV features which can also be seen on page 4-14.1 of the OPFOR Worldwide Equipment Guide (pdf) of the U.S. TRADOC DCSINT Threat Support Directorate.
Russia once had some 4,000 T-64s. It did not upgrade them but scrapped those it had.
Wikipedia, giving as source Eugene Yanko “T-64 MBT; Russian Arms, Military Technology, Analysis of Russia’s Military Forces”, list Russia as a “former operator” of T-64s and remarks:
Approx. 4000 in 1995. By 2013 all have been scrapped.
Another source says:
Russia (not to be confused with Ukraine which still has about ~2200 T-64′ss) has been scrapping out their for years now and completed the process mid 2012. This is from 2013 IISS the Military Balance.
I do not have access to the expensive 2013 IISS “Military Balance” but someone with U.S. library access can surely look it up and confirm that.
To me, a former Bundeswehr tank officer, the three traveling tanks reportedly driven by federalists in the videos above are T-64 BVs like the Ukrainian army uses in east Ukraine. Also – as Russia no longer has any T-64s where else could the Ukrainian federalist have obtained those three T-64 tanks than by capturing them in Ukraine?
Indeed. On June 9 the Russian news site Politikus.ru noted: Ополченцы под Луганском захватили три танка Т-64 украинских ВС. Google translation:
Militias under Lugansk captured three of the T-64 Ukrainian Armed ForcesAccording to representatives of the so-called self-defense forces People’s Republic of Lugansk, common in social networks, militias won another victory in the suburbs of Lugansk.It is reported that the Ukrainian military in a serious clash with the militia not only had to retreat, but to leave some heavy equipment and weapons. It is known that in order SDF Lugansk were three T-64 tank.
Apparently three T-64 BVs from the Ukrainian army were captured by federalists some five days ago and are moving somewhere in east Ukraine. There is zero prove at all that these T-64 BVs, of which Russia has none left, came from Russia. The State Department is again lying.
Posted by b on June 14, 2014 at 07:24 AM | Permalink
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