Title: Ukrainian Soldier Trolls Russian Tech Support After Capturing Tank
Date: [Date]
[Location] – In a humorous turn of events, a Ukrainian officer, known by his callsign Kochevnik, recently called up Russian tech support for assistance with a captured Russian tank. The officer, looking to operate the tank flawlessly, made several calls to the unsuspecting support staff at Uralvagonzavod, the Russian tank manufacturer. The call was made public through videos uploaded on YouTube by Militarnyi, a Ukraine-based media outlet.
Kochevnik stated that he was having trouble with a Russian T-72B3 tank, the most advanced version of the Soviet-era T-72 tanks, widely used by Russia’s military. While details regarding the capture of the tank remain undisclosed, Kochevnik took the opportunity to troll the support staff by discussing various issues such as oil leakage and faulty compressors. Forbes reported on the story, and it should be noted that Insider was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the calls.
During the calls, both Aleksander Anatolevich and Uralvagonzavod director Andrey Abakumov seemed unaware that they were speaking to a Ukrainian soldier. Anatolevich pledged to forward Kochevnik’s complaints to the design bureau and the engine manufacturer, while Abakumov instructed Kochevnik to report the issues via WhatsApp.
Towards the end of the calls, Kochevnik disclosed his true identity to both men, revealing himself as the commander of the armored group K-2 from Ukraine’s 54th mechanized brigade. He cheekily requested that future captured tanks be improved to make them easier to operate for the Ukrainian soldiers.
In recent years, Russia’s military has experienced significant losses in their tank fleet since the invasion of Ukraine. According to open-source intelligence website Oryx, the Russian military has lost two-thirds of its tanks since the war began in 2014. Oryx’s latest data reveals that Russia has lost at least 2,329 tanks out of an initial count of around 3,000 operational tanks.
In addition to destroying tanks, Ukrainian forces have been repurposing captured Russian tanks for their own use. Michael Kofman, the director of the Russia Studies Program at The Center for Naval Analyses, confirmed that Ukraine has been actively utilizing Russia’s T-80 tanks, which are easily identifiable on the battlefield.
As of now, representatives from Russia’s Ministry of Defense have not provided a comment on the incident.
Watch the video below to see the prank call made by Kochevnik to Russian tech support.
[Embedded video]
Source: [Forbes/Militarnyi/Oryx/Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
