T-90M Down: Ukrainian Forces Destroy Russia’s Most Capable Tank Class in the Donbas

<p >Footage released by Ukrainian Army personnel has confirmed the successful neutralisation of a Russian Army T-90M tank in the disputed Donetsk region, which has been a focal point for hostilities during over 11 years of Russian-Ukrainian hostilities. It remains uncertain how the tank was destroyed, although signs of rust indicate that it may have been abandoned for some time before being encountered by Ukrainian units. The tank was fitted with protective top armour, which began to be integrated onto Russian T-90s from mid-2022 to protect them against drone strikes and top attack munitions. Almost all T-90s have been modified with such top protection, while newly produced vehicles have been delivered with them from the outset. The T-90M is the most capable class of main battle tank currently operated by the Russian Army, and was held back from participating in hostilities in the initial months of high intensity conflict in 2022, with T-72B3 tanks which formed the backbone of the fleet relied on to advance into the Donbas and taking heavy losses in the process. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/20/article_682c9d44f24a35_74059926.jpg" title="Russian Army T-90M Tank"></p><p >The Russian Army only began to procure T-90M tanks in 2019, with the class <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-forces-in-europe-receive-first-units-of-revolutionary-t-90m-breakthrough-tanks" >entering service</a> in April 2020 after <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-s-new-t-90m-breakthrough-tank-completes-testing" >testing was completed</a> two months prior. It  represented a revolutionary improvement over prior T-90 variants, with notable features include its use of Relikt explosive reactive armour, the isolation of its ammunition internally, and the integration of the new 2A46M-5 gun and Kalina fire control system providing compatibility with a wide range of new munition types. T-90Ms have been captured by Ukrainian forces in the past, with the capture of one of the vehicles in<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-captures-russia-s-most-capable-battle-tank-in-unprecedented-gain-t-90m-likely-to-be-shipped-to-nato" > September 2022</a> gaining much publicity, while others have been <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-captures-t90m-capable" >captured</a> since then. The ability to analyse the vehicles relatively intact is likely to have provided Ukraine and its strategic partners in the Western world  with a better understandings of the strengths of the vehicle and the optimal means of engaging and neutralising it. Russia has similarly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/footage-captured-leo2a6-study" target="_blank">benefitted</a> from the ability to study captured Western tanks such as the Leopard 2A6 and M1 Abrams. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/20/article_682c9f01c41761_01036070.jpeg" title="T-90M Tank in the Ukrainian Theatre"></p><p > The Russian Defence Ministry has since the escalation of hostilities on Ukraine invested in modernising its T-90M fleet, with reports in August indicating that the vehicles <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t90m-arenam-protection-missiles" >were integrating</a> the Arena-M active protection system, which uses protective munitions to intercept and destroy incoming projectiles. In parallel to efforts to expand production of the T-90M, work is currently underway to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/new-enhanced-russian-t72-first-active-protection-system-ukrainian-frontlines" >modernise</a> older Soviet-built T-72 tanks with comparable levels of armour protection including the Arena-M system, and to bring the new T-14 next generation tank into service after delays approaching a full decade. Plans were also announced in September 2023 to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t80-new-variants-production-restart" >restart production</a> of the more costly and much more mobile T-80 tank after a two decade halt, possibly as a heavily enhanced <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t100-incoming-tank-production" >new variant</a>. The scale of T-90 production remains uncertain, with Russian officials having indicated that plans were underway to manufacture the vehicles at a rate of several hundred per year, although industry’s ability to built the vehicles at such rates remains in question. Although the Soviet Union in the 1980s produced tanks at rates of approximately 4000s per year, including highly complex T-80s, Russian industry had for the two decades preceding the war in Ukraine been producing tanks at much lower rates of well under 200 per year. </p>