Ukraine appeared to strike a Russian tank equipped with a makeshift electronic warfare system — but that may worry Ukraine

• A video shared on Telegram claims to show a Ukrainian drone strike on a tank.
• The tank appeared to be fitted with an improvised electronic warfare system.

A video shared on Telegram by a Ukrainian military blogger that claims to show a drone strike on a Russian tank could cause concern for Ukraine.

The video, which bears the insignia of Ukraine's 60th Mechanized Brigade, appears to show a hit on a "T-72B3M obr 2022 tank with a large improvised EW system," Rob Lee, a senior policy fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Ukraine has regularly used drones to attack Russian tanks, strike trenches, destroy equipment, and target soldiers. Ukraine also claims to have used sea drones to target Russian warships in the Black Sea.

But this crude-looking Russian electronic warfare (EW) system could be highly problematic for Ukraine's drone operators.

Electronic warfare uses the electromagnetic spectrum, including signals like radio, infrared, or radar, to disrupt an enemy's ability to use those signals itself, according to defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

It has played an increasingly important role in the war due to the prevalent use of drones by both sides.

But while Russia has enjoyed an advantage in the field of electronic warfare so far, such systems are often not installed on armored vehicles on the front lines, making them easy to attack, Ukrainian soldiers recently told The New York Times.

That's backed up by a February report from the think tank the Institute for the Study of War, which said that Russian military bloggers had slammed Russian commanders for failing to equip armored vehicles with the systems.

Even more troubling for Ukraine is that while the T-72B3M's system may look somewhat crude to the untrained eye, it appears to be effective.

Lee shared images of the tank and its EW system, which, he wrote, "reportedly was effectively countering a large number of FPVs operating with different frequencies before it was stopped."

Russia's lead in EW has also put a strain on Ukraine's supply of drones, which have been crucial to its war effort so far — to the extent that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in February that he would create a separate branch of the armed forces dedicated to the unmanned systems.

Ukrainian soldiers told The Times that they found it extremely difficult to get new drones, despite government pledges for more, and that most were obtained through volunteer donations.

However, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced last month that the UK would send 10,000 drones to Ukraine to help bolster their stocks.