Tanker in Ukraine calls tank help line in Russia, gets help

Soldiers in Ukraine captured a Russian tank on the battlefield. A Ukrainian soldier called tech support in Russia for help and actually got through.

Ukrainian Warriors encountered technical problems with a captured Russian T-72B3 tank and called Russian technical support. They were promised help and thanked for their cooperation.

Love our Ukrainian sense of humor! pic.twitter.com/g3tSC8Nwsm

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 3, 2023

We’ve all been there. You get a new appliance or vehicle, and something isn’t working right. So, you call the customer service support line and hope the person on the other end can help you out.

Well, this exact scenario happened in Ukraine recently. The incident was recorded and posted to the Militarnyi Videonews YouTube channel.

In the video, a Ukrainian tanker is unsatisfied with the working conditions of his captured Russian T-72B3 tank. It’s one of Russia’s somewhat newer tanks. The Ukrainian tanker, callsign Kochevnik, called tech support at the factory that produced the tank, one of Uralvagonzavod’s Russia, and actually got through.

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Kochevnik told the operator the tank was spewing oil, had several broken compressors and the turret could only be cranked by hand, because the electric motor went out.

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The Russian tech support operator told the Ukrainian tanker he’d report the problems to the design bureau at the factory, and that the engine manufacturer would be made aware of the issues as well.

It was at this point in the conversation Kochevnik revealed he was in fact not Russian, but Ukrainian, ending the call with the standard, “Slava Ukraini (Glory to Ukraine)!”

It’s no secret, Russia is losing a lot of tanks in Ukraine. Drones destroy some. Mines, artillery, rockets and missiles are also proven tank killers.

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Ukraine’s General Staff reported on its social media as of Sept. 1, Russia lost almost 4,500 tanks in Ukraine. Russian armored vehicle losses and artillery systems are also said to be in the thousands.

Russian losses aren’t just stacking up on land, its vaunted Black Sea Fleet is now functionally defeated according to reporting out of the United Kingdom. A series of drone and missile attacks on Russian ships forced the Russian navy to disperse the remaining vessels, rendering them combat ineffective in the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is entering its fifth month. Fortified Russian defenses slowed Ukraine’s progress to a near crawl, calling into question Ukraine’s strategy for fighting the war. Ukraine’s leadership and military pushed back on its critics, saying no one knows how to fight the war with Russia better than the country actually doing the fighting.

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