A Russian tank used in the assault on Ukraine has mysteriously appeared at a truck stop in the US.
The T-90 tank is thought to have been captured last September by Ukraine’s 92nd Separate Mechanised Brigade, after being used in fighting in the Kharkiv region of north west Ukraine.
The combat vehicle was left on a low loader in the parking lot of a restaurant in the state of Louisiana.
Local reports suggest that after the truck towing the tank broke down, the vehicle was left at Peto’s Travel Center and Casino in Roanoke, Louisiana, next to US Interstate 10.
Valerie Mott, the assistant manager of the restaurant, said: “I’ve been here seven years. I’ve never seen [a tank] here before,” according to The War Zone, an online publication.
Although the tank’s machine guns had been removed, much of its equipment appeared to be intact, including some explosive armour used for defence against anti-tank missiles.
Slab blocks on the front of the turret, each about the size of a folded copy of the Telegraph, would at some point have housed explosive reactive armour.
High explosives
The vehicle protection systems consist of a quantity of high explosives sandwiched between two metal plates. When hit by a missile, the system is designed to ignite to deflect the incoming projectile.
However, Russian tank crews fighting in Ukraine found to their cost that many of the protective boxes had been stripped of their explosives for sale on the black market.
It is not known whether the tank in Louisiana has functioning explosive armour.
The T-90, which entered service with the Russian Army in 1993, still has two large “dazzlers”, part of the Shtora-1 self-protection system, which is designed to interfere with the command signal of incoming anti-tank missiles.
The tank’s owner and intended new home are unknown.
A US army spokesman at the Red River Depot in New Boston, Texas, about 240 miles north of the truck stop, said the tank was not going there.
“This tank is more than likely not heading to Red River, as we don’t refurbish any of its kind here,” the spokesman said.
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