Ukrainian troops staged three-day raid to hijack Russian Tsar Tank

In early April, Russian paratroopers attacked the positions of the Ukrainian 12th Azov Brigade near Terny, west of Kremennaya in eastern Ukraine. Having been blown up by mines and frightened by Ukrainian UAVs, the occupiers who survived abandoned their equipment and ran away from their positions. This made it possible for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to receive the trophy.
The Russians left behind an almost intact and completely new T-72B3M tank. According to Forbes, it is one of the bulkiest and, theoretically, most effective anti-drone radio jamming devices anyone has seen in Russia's war against Ukraine.
The Azov team spent three days inspecting, repairing and lifting the 51-ton T-72. Two months later he was repainted and assigned to the same tank battalion that helped kidnap him.
This is one of two captured T-72B3Ms that are in service with the 12th Azov Brigade. The Ukrainians nicknamed it “Tsar Tank” or “Tsar Electronic Warfare” for its “electronic warfare.” It had a huge electronic warfare system with additional batteries on the sides, tied by cables.
"Why the Russians piled so much jamming equipment on one tank is obvious. For six months starting in October, Russia-friendly Republican lawmakers in the US Congress blocked further US aid to Ukraine, depriving Ukrainian brigades of artillery shells and anti-tank missiles needed to repel Russian attacks So the Ukrainians launched a rapid program to build up to 100,000 explosive FPV drones in hundreds of tiny workshops as an intermediate firepower tool. As tiny Ukrainian drones filled the skies, the Russians scrambled to deploy anti-drone capabilities, including jamming capabilities that could block signals. control of drones,” explains the publication.
The Tsar Tank likely represented the zenith of Russian combat drone jamming. It is now known how the operation to kidnap him took place.
On the night of April 3, scouts crept up to the tank to inspect it. They found him entangled in barbed wire on an unexploded anti-tank mine. The tank was unloaded because the crew escaped without first turning off the fire control system.
On the night of April 4, the brigade “decided to act” and steal the tank. The bomb squad and tank crew quietly returned to the T-72 to clear any live explosives, including the mine under the tank, and install new batteries.
And already on the night of April 5, the time came to take him to the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Infantry and drone operators watched from a safe distance. Paramedics and an ambulance crew were on standby. The theft itself was carried out by two tank crews with the call signs “Baydar” and “Tenor”. They ran up to the T-72, ignoring the nearby Russian artillery salvo, and controlled the tank without turning on the headlights.