The ‘Azovets’ heavy armored vehicle had vanished in 2016
A heavy armored fighting vehicle that was supposed to be a revolutionary innovation of the Ukrainian military has been found by Russian troops broken down and buried, according to a video made public on Friday.
Engineers sympathetic to the neo-Nazi ‘Azov’ regiment created the ‘Azovets’ (Azovite) in 2015, by converting a Soviet-era T-64 tank.
Instead of a main gun in a single turret, the ‘Azovets’ was fitted with two autonomous turrets, each armed with twin 23mm guns and a machine gun, as well as anti-tank guided missile launchers.
Advertised as a breakthrough in urban armored design, the $5 million vehicle did not make it into serial production. It vanished from the factory in October 2016 and was never seen on the battlefield.
⚡️🇷🇺The Russian military captured the once missing Ukrainian Azovets heavy infantry fighting vehicle, developed by specialists of the Azov National Battalion* (a terrorist organization banned in Russia), the theft of which was accused by workers of the Kyiv ATEK excavator plant.… pic.twitter.com/kv8O9vKxAF
— SIMPLICIUS Ѱ (@simpatico771) April 5, 2024
According to Russian soldiers who spoke to Sputnik, that was in part because the vehicle was unfit for combat duty. Far too heavy for its engine, at 41 tons, the Azovets was encased in 500 bricks of reactive armor. Moreover, it had no thermal sights and its armament was underwhelming.