Russia ‘to deploy robot tanks to Ukraine to counter threat of Leopard 2 armoured vehicles’
- The unmanned Marker ‘robotic tanks’ are armed with machine guns and missiles
- Putin ally Dmitry Rogozinv claimed the robots would be ‘hunters of Leopards’
Russia is deploying new ‘robot tanks’ in eastern Ukraine in a bid to counter the threat of German-made Leopard 2 tanks supplied by the West, it was claimed today
The unmanned Marker ‘robotic combat systems’ are armed with 7.62mm machine guns and anti-tank missiles.
They can also be used to carry and control military drones, say their makers.
‘The first four Marker robots have arrived in the region strictly on schedule,’ said Vladimir Putin ally, Dmitry Rogozin, former head of the Russian Space Agency.
He showed footage of the robots which appeared to have been filmed in Taganrog, not in the Ukrainian war zone.
Russia is deploying new ‘robot tanks’ (pictured) in eastern Ukraine in a bid to counter the threat of German-made Leopard 2 tanks supplied by the West, it was claimed today
The unmanned Marker ‘robotic combat systems’ are armed with 7.62mm machine guns and anti-tank missiles. They can also be used to carry and control military drones, say their makers
It remains unclear how effective they will be in battle, or if they can operate more than several miles from their controller.
‘We are starting the process of uploading target images, working out algorithms for engaging in combat as part of a group of combat robots and installing powerful anti-tank weapons,’ said Rogozin who now heads a group of military advisers and the Royal Wolves research and technology centre.
He claimed the robots would be ‘hunters of Leopards’ – the German-made tanks soon to be sent by Ukraine’s allies that have them in their arsenals, and deployed by Ukraine. The UK is also sending Challenger II tanks, while the US is sending Abrams.
The robots are used to guard Vostochny cosmodrome (a spaceport) in the Far East of the country, and are equipped with attack mini-drones.
Rogozin, 59, has vowed revenge after he was wounded in a Ukrainian strike while celebrating his birthday in Donetsk.
An ex-deputy prime minister, he was Putin’s point man on the new Satan-2 missile, known to the Russians as Sarmat, when he ran the Russian space agency.
Separately, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev claimed increasing Russian missile supplies will lead to a ‘crushing defeat’ for Ukraine. He spoke on a visit to Raduga State Engineering Design Bureau in Dubna, Moscow region.
Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s security council, has been tasked by Putin with speeding up missile and tank deliveries to the frontline.
Vladimir Putin ally, Dmitry Rogozin – the former head of the Russian Space Agency – showed footage (pictured) of the robots which appeared to have been filmed in Taganrog, not in the Ukrainian war zone. They were seen driving around a courtyard and into a hangar
Dmitry Rogozin claimed the robots would be ‘hunters of Leopards’ – the German-made tanks soon to be sent by Ukraine’s allies that have them in their arsenals, and deployed by Ukraine. The UK is also sending Challenger II tanks, while the US is sending Abrams
Pictured: A Russia ‘robot tank’ is seen being unloaded from the back of a truck in Russia
READ MORE: Putin has ‘mobilised half a MILLION troops for major new offensive’
Supplies of missiles will ‘increase significantly’ in 2023, he said, without giving evidence.
‘This will allow the Ukrainian neo-Nazis, who have been weaponised by a variety of Western scum, to suffer a crushing defeat,’ he threatened, parroting the Kremlin’s unproven propaganda lines about Ukraine being a Nazi country.
The Marker robots have been jointly developed by Russia’s Advanced Research Foundation and the Androidnaya Tekhnika Science and Production Association.
In the past week, Western powers including US and Germany have approved sending more than 100 main battle tanks to Ukraine – a move that Russia has warned crosses a dangerous new line in the conflict.
It was also reported yesterday that the US was preparing a more than $2billion package of military aid, including the delivery of long-range missiles.
However, the US and the UK have for now rebuffed Kyiv’s requests for fighter jets, amid fears that it could lead to Russia escalating the war even further. ‘We need arms to counter the enemy,’ Reznikov said.
News that the robot tanks could be deployed to Ukraine came as Putin said that Russia is being threatened by German tanks ‘again’ as it was during World War II, warning that Moscow is ready to respond to aggression from the West.
Speaking at events marking the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad, Putin drew parallels between the Soviet Union’s fight in World War II and Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
‘It’s unbelievable but true. We are again being threatened by German Leopard tanks,’ he said in the southern city of Volgograd. ‘
Again and again we are forced to repel the aggression of the collective West,’ Putin said. ‘We aren’t sending tanks to their borders but we have something to respond with, and it won’t be just about using armoured vehicles.
‘Everyone should understand this. A modern war with Russia will be completely different,’ he added.
Since sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine last February, Putin has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons against the West if the conflict escalates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony during an event marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad in World War Two, at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex in Volgograd, Russia February 2, 2023
READ MORE: How US Abrams, Germany’s Leopard 2 and UK’s Challenger compare to Russia’s outdated tanks
‘Readiness to go until the end, to do the impossible for the sake of the motherland, for the sake of truth was and is in the blood, in the character of our multinational people,’ Putin said ominously.
The 1942-43 Battle of Stalingrad raged for nearly six months and when it was over the city was in ruins and more than a million soldiers and civilians had lost their lives.
The Red Army’s victory marked a turning point not only for the Soviet Union, which had suffered several heavy defeats, but also for the Allied forces.
The 80th anniversary of the victory comes as Russia seeks to step up its offensive in Ukraine, bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists mobilised last autumn.
Putin had earlier laid flowers at the grave of the Soviet marshal who oversaw the defence of Stalingrad and visited the city’s main memorial complex, where he held a minute’s silence in honour of those who died during the battle.
Thousands of people lined Volgograd’s streets to watch a victory parade as planes flew overhead and modern and World War Two-era tanks and armoured vehicles rolled past. Some of the modern vehicles had the letter ‘V’ painted on them, a symbol used by Russia’s forces in Ukraine.
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