Vladimir Putin’s forces are using makeshift cages and mobile sheds in a desperate attempt to stop Ukraine’s drones from destroying their tanks.
Footage has shown Russian tanks moving with turtle shell-shaped cages on top of them.
This comes amid reports that Russia has lost all of the tanks it started the war with.
The video shows a row of tanks moving through fields in Ukraine with steel covers protecting them.
The metal covers almost the whole tank, leaving only a small gap at the front for the turret.
READ MORE: NATO ‘not ready for war with Russia’ as West scrambling to stop Putin in Ukraine
A NATO official told Foreign Policy on Wednesday that Ukrainian drones are responsible for 66 percent of Russia’s lost tanks since the start of the war.
Rob Lee, a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia program, also told the outlet: “You usually don’t kill a tank the first few times. It can take 10 or more [FPV drones] to kill a tank.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also told Axel Springer media outlets on Tuesday: “We produce a lot of drones, but they are not an alternative to any kind of weapon.”
“We are proving ourselves with drones, and I think the fact that we have increased production helps us a lot,” Zelenskyy added, “but it is not a substitute for air defense, it is not a substitute for long-range weapons, missiles, long-range artillery.”
Ukraine has been losing territory in recent months as Russia launches its offensive.
Zelensky has urged the West to provide more support because Ukraine’s ammunition stocks are running low.
The US has so far failed to pass its military aid bill due to resistance from Republican lawmakers.
However, President Joe Biden has supplied Ukraine with weapons that were seized from Iran as they were being transferred to the Houthi rebels last year.
Posting on social media platform X, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the weapons included more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, and sniper rifles, as well as more than 500,000 rounds of 7.62 ammunition.
The statement added: “This constitutes enough material to equip one Ukrainian brigade with small arms rifles.”
