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This is the moment Ukraine destroyed a rare Russian armored vehicle first used in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Footage from the battlefield showed the Ladoga nuclear command vehicle being shot down during a Ukrainian drone strike.
The Soviet-era vehicle was designed in the 1970s to transport senior Kremlin staff in the event of a nuclear attack and was built using the chassis of a T-80 main battle tank.
In 1986, the vehicle was sent to the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and was said to have performed well after the explosion of reactor number 4 at the nuclear power plant.
But manufacturer LKZ built no more than four or five, including the prototype, which was sent across the country for further testing.
Its appearance on the Ukrainian battlefield draws attention to Russia’s problems replacing its current tank fleet, which has taken a hard hit since the war began two years ago.
Footage from the battlefield showed the Ladoga nuclear command vehicle being shot down during a Ukrainian drone strike.
The old-school vehicle was designed in the 1970s to transport senior Kremlin staff in the event of a nuclear attack.
Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost 6,904 tanks since they invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, according to an estimate from kyiv sources.
To combat this, Moscow officials have been seen removing outdated tanks from storage, some dating back to the 1950s in photos and videos posted online.
AFV Recognition, an authoritative social media account that tracks Russian armor, said The Telegraph: “Of all the vehicles Russia has taken out of storage and used in this war, this is one that was really at the bottom of my list to even see in theater, let alone destroyed.”
Russia has claimed it has increased production of new tanks since the start of the war to replace those lost in fighting.
But experts believe the military is actually refurbishing older equipment that has been in storage since the end of the Cold War or possibly longer.