'Twice As Old As Me': Ukrainian Commander Says Unable To Fight Russia With Malfunctioning T-64

A Ukrainian commander recently spoke out about the condition of war machines used to fight Russia, saying the T-64 tank assigned to him was "twice as old" as him and badly worn out.

"My tank is over 50 years old. It is twice as old as me (…) I am waiting for the German Leopard tank to arrive so I can transfer to a reliable vehicle," the commander, identified only as Igor, told Spanish newspaper El Pais in an interview, the EurAsian Times reported Sunday.

Last month, Germany had committed to sending cutting-edge Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, which has been combatting Russian troops in several regions.

The commander added technical problems with the tanks forced him to repeatedly leave the battlefield instead of attacking Russian positions. Several tanks also faced malfunction of the undercarriage and the guns got jammed.

The war with Russia has been ongoing for almost a year, with Ukraine reportedly losing almost half of the 800 tanks that it had in its inventory.

There are no major replacements for T-64s, Forbes reported. This means that for each T-64 the Ukrainian army loses, they cannot probably replace it with any other tank in the inventory.

The T-64 was developed in the mid-to-late 1960s and produced until the late 1980s. One T-64 tank weighs 38 tons and can be armed with a 125mm smoothbore cannon and two machine guns, along with a 7.62 mm PKMT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7 mm NSVT anti-aircraft machine gun.

So far, Ukraine had been using the Soviet-era tanks it had under its control from the collapse of the communist bloc.

According to Forbes, the other major tank types in Ukrainian service are the T-72 and T-80.

Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will soon be able to deploy its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine. His comments came at the annual Munich Security Conference, days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.

At the conference, Scholz said it was "wise to prepare for a long war," BBC reported. The first tanks are expected to arrive in March, or April at the latest.

More than 100 members of the Ukrainian military have started training on Leopard-2 tanks in Poland. The tanks could play a key role in the fight against Russian forces.