Russia’s Bizarre ‘Turtle Tank’ Becomes Target of Jokes, Memes

Russian tank crews may have unconventionally adapted their vehicles in the hopes of fending off persistent Ukrainian explosive drone strikes, new footage appears to show.

Russia has started fitting a fixed, shell-like metal structure around its tanks rolling out along the frontlines in Ukraine, video clips circulating online suggest.

One video, shot by an airborne drone, appears to show a Russian tank encased in a turtle-like contraption moving through a field around the Donetsk town of Krasnohorivka in the past few days. Krasnohorivka has long been on the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, west of the Russian-controlled regional capital, Donetsk City.

The video clip appears to show the metal casing partly covering the tank’s main gun as it leads a handful of vehicles without the same, shell-like protection. The tank is T-72, a Russian military blogger said on Monday.

The footage quickly garnered attention online, jokingly labeled a “turtle tank” or, even more specifically, a “Russian Ninja Turtle tank.”

Russia has suffered heavy tank losses since it invaded Ukraine. Estimates from U.K.-based think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, earlier this year suggested Russian tank losses stood at around 3,000 since February 2022.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Photos of the new contraption provoked bemused reactions on social media, where people responded by posting images of a medieval siege engine and of the visor on a Darth Vader helmet being snapped down.

A new design, but one with precedent. Russia has long attached improvised armor onto its tank fleet in an attempt to shield against Ukrainian strikes. Roof screens have also popped up on Russian rocket launchers.

Last month, reports indicated Russia had branched out and applied the tactic to a naval vessel for the first time.

Additional fortifications have been pejoratively dubbed a “cope cage,” designed to dull the impacts of well-targeted munitions strikes on valuable assets like tanks.

And zeroing in on Russia’s tanks is something Ukraine has proved adept at. Kyiv uses its extensive fleet of first-person-view, or FPV, drones against a range of targets, and frequently publishes footage purporting to show explosive FPV drones careening into Russian armored vehicles.

“Russian tanks are Ukrainian FPV drones’ “favorite targets,” Kyiv’s Defense Ministry said earlier this month.

Electronic warfare systems—widely used by both Russia and Ukraine to intercept incoming drones—cannot safeguard all of Russia’s tanks, which then rely more heavily on physical protection, said Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher with the War Studies Department at King’s College, London.

Earlier this year, Russian state media reports said Moscow had started using “FPV drone suppression systems” on its tanks.

The details of this turtle-like cage aren’t clear, and it is hard to work out how many have been produced, or whether they are just making use of available materials in the field, she told Newsweek.

“The constant threat from enemy FPV drones leads to various extravagant projects in an attempt to protect armored vehicles, such as an electronic warfare tank, or, as in this photo, a tank covered with a continuous protective structure,” a Russian military blogger said of the “turtle tank” on Monday.