Russian troops are turning tanks into car bombs against Ukraine

A Bulgarian armed forces MT-LB armored vehicle is seen during the 2022 demonstrations. Russia claims to have captured a similar armored vehicle from Ukraine and packed it with explosives. Hristo Rusev/Getty Images

• A recent video shows a old tank exploding, unleashing a massive blast wave.
• The kamikaze tanks have similarities with the way ISIS militants used car bombs.
• "What a stupid way to conduct armored operations by the Russians," a retired US general said.

In the teeth of a Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russian troops are experimenting with a new and vicious tactic: turning armored vehicles into massive car bombs.

One recent video shows an antiquated tank rumbling in a straight path towards a line of trees until a blast stops it in its tracks. A ground-fired weapon like a rocket propelled grenade streaks out from the trees where Ukrainian forces are positioned and strikes the tank, the impact unleashing a massive explosion and blast wave caused by apparent secondaries — in the form of what's likely to be tons of explosive. 

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The kamikaze tanks have some similarities with the way ISIS militants used car bombs to attack convoys and to terrify their enemies, but the tactics are a one-off that come at the expense of using the tanks for more effective strategies like rapidly enveloping the enemy with superior firepower.

Mark Hertling, a retired general who commanded US Army Europe and is now a military analyst with CNN, said on Twitter: "Pack a tank with explosives, have a volunteer drive it, then jump off after pointing it toward the enemy. What a stupid way to conduct armored operations by the Russians."

On Saturday, Russian troops used a similar ploy — rigging a captured Ukrainian MT-LB armored fighting vehicle with five bombs and 3.5 tons of explosive. The explosive force of this vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) is massive, but its delivery is crude.

"About 300 meters from the enemy, the driver put the car on manual gas, sent it to his side, and jumped," said a Russian officer who oversaw the operation according to an account in the Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency; the Russians claimed the operation killed a "significant" number of Ukrainians, a claim that couldn't be independently verified.

One video released by the Russian state-owned TASS news agency shows the compartment of a vehicle stuffed with a bomb and explosives.

Videos of the vehicle blasts filmed from Russian positions show huge fireballs in what, for Russian ultranationalists, may be essentially war pornography — but it's harder to assess what impact these dramatic attacks are having on the frontlines as Ukraine claws back some of its territory.

Russia's reliance on these tactics is telling.

As Hugo Kaaman, a researcher who tracks VBIEDs, pointed out: car bombs are typically used by technologically inferior forces that lack an air force capable of blasting their enemies' redoubts and heavy vehicles. Russia, of course, does have powerful air forces. But Ukraine has effectively forced them to fly far from the battlefield, evening the odds on the ground.