A Russian tank was seen charging into battle with a giant, makeshift metal roof on top of it as Ukraine leans into drone attacks

The “turtle tank” was seen in Ukrainian drone footage earlier this month. Screenshot/Telegram via @Khortytsky_wind, ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images

• A Russian tank has gone viral after being spotted with a metal roof during an attack.
• Dubbed the “turtle tank” online, it’s become a meme-like fascination for those interested in the Ukraine war.
• The modification hearkens to the last-resort practice of installing “cope cages” on tanks at the start of the war.

Ukrainian drone footage of an attacking Russian convoy has revealed an odd vehicle rolling onto the battlefield — a tank appearing to wear a metal tent on its head.

Jury-rigged with what appears to be a large metal structure resembling the roof of a shed, the vehicle was seen leading a convoy toward Krasnohorivka, a city in Donetsk, in clips uploaded on Telegram by Ukrainian forces on April 9. It’s unclear when the vehicle was first deployed on the Ukrainian battlefield.

Ukraine said the attack was ultimately repelled, but the modified vehicle, dubbed the “turtle tank” online, has become an internet star for its comically hefty shielding.

Since the early days of the war in Ukraine, Russian engineers have been spotted fitting crude metal structures on their tanks to better protect occupants from anti-tank fire. Ukrainian tanks were later seen following suit. Military observers, doubting their true effectiveness, often call these “cope cages.”

But the “turtle tank” takes things one step further, with metal sheets covering its body so extensively that the vehicle can barely turn its gun, as seen in a separate video uploaded by the open-source intelligence Telegram channel CyberBoroshno. The close-up shows what looks like a T-72 covered from front to back by the roof-like structure.

CyberBoroshno later posted that based on the footage, its team geolocated a hangar that housed the “turtle tank.” It said Ukrainian forces had struck the building, and uploaded drone footage of the wrecked vehicle.

Since then, several similar Russian vehicles have been spotted online. A day after the “turtle tank” became internet famous, open-source X account Ukraine Battle Map posted a photo of another tank clad in a tent-like metal structure.

And on Tuesday, Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko posted two photos of another vehicle covered in pallets, but this time fitted with an electronic jammer to ward off drone attacks.

Sternenko said the Russian vehicle was spotted near Krasnohorivka, where the original “turtle tank” was seen.

Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

The extreme tank modifications come as Ukraine leans into strikes with first-person view unmanned drones, which are cheap and often piloted with explosives into weak spots of armored targets.

Drones are being used so extensively in the war that they’ve sparked interest in unmanned devices becoming a staple in modern conflicts elsewhere.

The evolution of such weaponry has, in turn, pushed troops to experiment to boost their chances of survival on the battlefield. On April 5, Ukrainian forces said they captured a Russian tank covered completely in electronic jamming equipment, though the vehicle was still seen being taken out by a first-person view drone.

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