Russia resorts to using makeshift covers and cages on tanks to shield its dwindling forces from Ukrainian drone attacks in fresh humiliation for Putin

Vladimir Putin's dwindling forces have been forced to use makeshift covers and cages to shield important military equipment as Ukrainian drone attacks batter them. 

One video leaked to Telegram channels show Russian tanks underneath blocky, turtle-like metal shells that appear to have been retroactively fitted to the exterior. 

The makeshift shell only covers the sides and top of the tank, seemingly allowing operators to fire shells from the military vehicles. 

Another video, this time seemingly shot from a drone, shows three Russian tanks with the covers plodding along through a battlefield at the Ukrainian-held town of Krasnohorivka as they come under fire. 

Though the covers do not appear to be affecting their movement, their efficacy is not known given that they seem to take out much of the tanks' visibility. 

Ukraine has heavily relied on cheaply made drones that can attack Russian positions from a distance 

Vladimir Putin's (pictured) forces have been decimated by Ukrainian drone pilots

One video leaked to Telegram channels show Russian tanks underneath blocky, turtle-like metal shells that appear to have been retroactively fitted to the exterior

Another video, this time seemingly shot from a drone, shows three Russian tanks with the covers plodding along through a battlefield at the Ukrainian-held town of Krasnohorivka as they come under fire

Another video, this time seemingly shot from a drone, shows three Russian tanks with the covers plodding along through a battlefield at the Ukrainian-held town of Krasnohorivka as they come under fire

At least two armoured vehicle was destroyed during the failed assault.

Russia's tanks have been massively affected by Ukrainian drones. A NATO official today told Foreign Policy that more than two-thirds of incapacitated Russian tanks were taken out by drones. 

Many are cheaply made, using off-the-shelf components that often carry improvised munitions including grenades or homemade bombs, as a much-needed military aid package worth $60billion, or £47billion, is still held up in the US House of Representatives after months of squabbling. 

But the war, and the necessity to innovate in light of scarce resources, has seemingly led to Ukraine creating an AI-powered drone that could lock on to Russian targets from further away and be more resilient to electronic countermeasures in efforts to ramp up its military capabilities as war rages on.

Deputy Defence Minister Kateryna Chernohorenko said Kyiv is developing a new system that could autonomously discern, hunt and strike its targets from afar.

A Ukrainian military pilot of a FPV drone during a combat flight with an accumulative charge at the frontline near Bakhmut

A pilot practices with a drone on a training ground in Kyiv region on February 29, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Servicemen of the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine stand near a howitzer at a frontlin

Ukrainian servicemen of Azov brigade are seen at an artillery position in the direction of Lyman

This would make the drones harder to shoot down or jam, she said, and would reduce the threat of retaliatory strikes to drone pilots. 

'Our drones should be more effective and should be guided towards the target without any operators.

'It should be based on visual navigation. We also call it ''last-mile targeting'', homing in according to the image,' she told The Telegraph.

It comes less than two months after Britain's Defence Secretary announced the creation of a drone coalition that will see the UK, Latvia and other Western-aligned governments pour £200 million into providing military-grade unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Ukraine.

The package - which constitutes around a fifth of Ukraine's total investment in the development of drones for frontline use - will see the UK order thousands of FPV drones for Ukraine, many of which will be produced by British manufacturers.