Video Shows Russian 'Turtle Tank's' Daring Raid Behind Enemy Lines

A Russian military vehicle whose unconventional adaptation has earned it the nickname of "turtle tank" features in a video purportedly going behind enemy lines in eastern Ukraine.

However, in posting the clip on X, a journalist with German newspaper Bild, Julian Röpcke, questioned how such a tank had managed to transport Russian troops unharmed while coping with Ukrainian artillery fire.

Over the course of the war, Russian engineers have been spotted fitting crude metal structures on their tanks to offer better protection from anti-tank fire, in a move also copied by Ukraine.

Drone footage released on April 9 showed what was reportedly a T-72 tank with the additional armor moving through a field around the Donetsk town of Krasnohorivka. One social media user dubbed it a "Ninja turtle tank," noting how "the world's 2nd greatest army (is) desperately seeking solutions."

On Tuesday, Röpcke shared a video which lasted more than two minutes of a tank scurrying across open ground near a settlement he said was in the same area.

"Russian turtle tank—yes, the type everyone laughed about—transporting Russian invasion forces to central Western Krasnohorivka under intense Ukrainian artillery fire—unharmed—and returning to base," the journalist wrote to his 174,000 followers.

"1. Not funny at all. 2. Where are Ukrainian defenders?" Röpcke said, questioning in a follow-up post why the footage, which he said had been uploaded by a Ukrainian source, had the jaunty music of the theme tune to the 1970s TV series The Benny Hill Show.

In another post, he posted a still image from the clip of the tank, writing, "direct 155 mm DPICM (dual-purpose improved conventional munition) hit without visible effect."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment about the unverified and undated video.

Russian military blogger Colonel Cassad had earlier posted the video on his Telegram channel saying that Moscow's troops entered Krasnohorivka, "ride around...and reach the factory building in the center," before "calmly leaving."

"The crew has balls of steel," the post said, "let those who laughed be ashamed."

But there are questions about the effectiveness of the metal sheets which cover the tank's body so much that it has difficulty in turning its gun, as seen in a separate video uploaded by the open-source intelligence Telegram channel CyberBoroshno.

In noting the emergence of at least three such "turtle tanks" in recent weeks, The War Zone said in an article published Tuesday it was unclear if any of the vehicles had additional protection to shield the open front and rear ends of the tanks.

"Not doing so would seem to call into question the utility of installing the additional top covering in the first place, which also severely limits the traverse of the tank's turret and the crew's overall situational awareness," the publication said, adding that the weight and ungainly structure would also hamper mobility.