Ukraine has destroyed an ultra-rare Soviet-era armoured vehicle that was first field-tested by the Russians at Chernobyl.
Battlefield footage shared on social media appeared to show the Ladoga nuclear command vehicle being targeted by a Ukrainian drone.
The vehicle was designed in the seventies to move senior Kremlin staff around in the event of a nuclear attack.
The Leopard 2 was designed in the 70s. So for battlefield vehicle designs, that is not necessarily outdated. Most fighter aircraft in use today were desgigned in the 70s: Su-27, MiG-29, sure, we think they’re old, but the F-16, F-15, F/A-18 are roughly the same age.
The interesting bit is not that the Ladoga is an old vehicle, it’s how incredibly rare it is. It must have been pulled from deep storage or a museum somewhere.
The result was the Ladoga. Kirovsky produced just a handful of the tracked vehicles—perhaps four or five. One spent some time in the fallout zone around the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl following the plant’s deadly 1986 meltdown. Aside from another that landed in a museum, the Ladogas then … disappeared.
It speaks volumes to the state of their armed forces to be resupplied with such a vehicle.
They hold Chernobyl and we know at least one is in the red yard at Chernobyl so guess where this one is probably from, I’d hit it with the fun meter to see how many giggles per hour is emiting.
