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Ukrainian farmer uses tractor to ‘steal’ Russian tank

Philip Case 03 March 2022
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Plucky Ukrainian farmers have been contributing to their country’s fightback against the invading Russian troops by using tractors to steal their military vehicles.

Videos have emerged on social media of tanks left by Russian troops being towed away by tractors.

One such video has been posted by researcher Arlson Xudosi on Twitter. It shows a Russian tank – which looks like a ML-TB, a Soviet-era multipurpose fully amphibious auxiliary armoured tracked vehicle – being stolen by a farmer and driven away.

See also: How Ukraine war will impact its farming – agronomist’s view

The seven-second clip, which has been viewed almost five million times around the world, shows a blue tractor towing the tank at speed while it is chased by an unknown man in civilian clothes. Unconfirmed reports have suggested that the tank ran out of fuel.

Olexander Scherba, a Ukrainian diplomat working as ambassador of Ukraine to Austria, shared the video clip on his social media handle.

He tweeted: “If true, it’s probably the first tank ever stolen by a farmer… Ukrainians are tough cookies indeed.”

A source close to the story told Farmers Weekly: “A Russian solider got lost and got out of his armoured personal carrier. He wandered off and the farmer came and took the tractor.

“The armoured personnel carrier had been left unattended, so the farmer decided to nick it.”

The source added that earlier that morning, farmers on their bikes came across four Russian tanks in a field.

“The farmers asked the soldiers what they were doing there. They called the Ukrainian police and got them arrested.”

Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko joked that the farmer could sell the tank for scrap metal.

Farmer tows Russian 9K33 

Footage of a second clip which has appeared on social media appears to show a tractor towing away a Russian 9K33 Osa surface-to-air missile platform.

On Wednesday (2 March) footage appeared on social media of two John Deere tractors hauling a captured Russian surface-to-air missile tank. The video, posted on Twitter by Igor Girkin (@GirkinGirkin), has gone viral.

Meanwhile, reports are emerging in Ukraine of Russian soldiers stealing fuel from farms – but farmers are hitting back by contaminating the fuel with chemicals.

“This is one reason why there are so many reports of Russian tanks breaking down,” said a source.

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