Seeking to counter Ukraine’s dominant drone fleet, Russia deployed its newly upgraded Arena-M Active Protection System aboard T-72B3A tanks. However, during a major mechanized assault near Shakhove in July 2026, the secret weapon failed to turn the tide. Ukraine’s Azov Brigade and combined forces repelled the four-hour attack, destroying dozens of armored vehicles with artillery, mines, and drone swarms. Russia remains trapped in a strategic stalemate without an answer to Kyiv’s aerial superiority.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Russia Arena-M Active Protection System Fails in Combat
01:10 - Ukrainian Drone Strikes Force Russian Armor Tactical Shift
02:20 - How Arena-M Doppler Radar Intercepts FPV Drones
03:30 - Russian T-72B3A Tanks Deployed With Arena-M APS
04:45 - Cope Cages Fail as Arena-M APS Faces Interceptor Limits
06:00 - July 22 Mechanized Assault Launched in Donetsk Region
07:15 - Azov Brigade Destroys Pontoons and Blocks Russian Attack
08:20 - Ukrainian FPV Drones Destroy T-72B3A Arena-M Tanks
09:30 - Russian Military Bloggers Condemn Failed Mechanized Assault
10:45 - Why Arena-M Active Protection System Failed in Ukraine
12:00 - Will Major General Drapatyi Defeat Russian Armor Strategy?
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/gvF8sL2v
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Russia Arena-M Active Protection System Fails in Combat
01:10 - Ukrainian Drone Strikes Force Russian Armor Tactical Shift
02:20 - How Arena-M Doppler Radar Intercepts FPV Drones
03:30 - Russian T-72B3A Tanks Deployed With Arena-M APS
04:45 - Cope Cages Fail as Arena-M APS Faces Interceptor Limits
06:00 - July 22 Mechanized Assault Launched in Donetsk Region
07:15 - Azov Brigade Destroys Pontoons and Blocks Russian Attack
08:20 - Ukrainian FPV Drones Destroy T-72B3A Arena-M Tanks
09:30 - Russian Military Bloggers Condemn Failed Mechanized Assault
10:45 - Why Arena-M Active Protection System Failed in Ukraine
12:00 - Will Major General Drapatyi Defeat Russian Armor Strategy?
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/gvF8sL2v
Category
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NewsTranscript
00:00With its frontline forces failing to make any meaningful progress in Ukraine, the Russian
00:04military decided to go all in on a new secret weapon. A weapon with the potential to change
00:10the way the war was fought and cancel out one of Kyiv's biggest advantages. Russian
00:15developers and engineers spent months fine-tuning this system before rolling it out for its
00:20first test in real-world combat conditions. They believed that this was the moment that
00:25momentum would finally shift back in their favour. They were wrong. Russia's secret weapon
00:30failed within minutes, sending the Kremlin's commanders back to the drawing board yet again.
00:35The weapon in question is known as the Arena M. It's not a missile or drone, but an active
00:41protection system, or APS. As the name implies, an APS is a system designed to actively prevent
00:47damage to military vehicles, like tanks and armoured infantry vehicles, from weapons like
00:53rocket rockets and missiles. Famous examples include Israel's trophy system and the United
00:58States' quick-kill APS. Russia has developed and used several active protection systems
01:03of its own over the years, including the Arena, which was originally designed in the early 1990s
01:09to counter threats like rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles. In 2026, however, the
01:16biggest threat to Russian armour isn't rockets, but drones. Ukraine has developed one of the
01:21biggest and strongest fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, in the world, boasting a
01:26dizzingly diverse array of drones to carry out precision strikes against its enemy. And
01:31it's used those drones to remarkable effect, destroying thousands upon thousands of high-value
01:36Russian assets, from tanks and armoured fighting vehicles to armoured personnel carriers, engineering
01:42vehicles, command posts, artillery, radars, rocket launchers and more. As the war progressed,
01:48Ukraine's UAVs became so impactful in front-line locations that Russia's commanders completely
01:54changed their tactics. Initially, they relied heavily on their armour advantage, sending sizeable
01:59columns of armour and mechanised assault groups into towns, cities and settlements, relying
02:04on sheer mass of metal and firepower to break through the Ukrainian defensive lines. But
02:09as Ukrainian drone operators began to eliminate tank after tank and vehicle after vehicle, the
02:15Kremlin realised it simply couldn't continue throwing its armour away so cheaply. So, Russia
02:20began using tanks and armoured vehicles less frequently, relying instead on small assault
02:24groups of soldiers who were forced to either march into enemy territory on foot or aboard simple
02:29civilian vehicles like dirt bikes and SUVs. This made life significantly easier for Ukraine,
02:35with various units and battalions able to dig in and defend their locations more efficiently,
02:40without having to worry about dozens of tanks being sent their way. Meanwhile, the Kremlin's
02:45military engineers got to work on ways to make their armoured vehicles more resilient to Ukrainian
02:49UAV strikes. That's where the Arena M comes in. A new and improved version of the Arena APS, Russian
02:57officials claim that the Arena M can effectively intercept munitions coming from any angle. It does this by
03:03relying on a multifunctional Doppler radar, which scans the surrounding area for any incoming fast-moving
03:09objects like anti-tank missiles or RPGs. If and when a threat is detected, the Arena M's on-board
03:16computer automatically measures its speed, direction and projected flight path. Then, before the projectile
03:23makes impact, the Arena M fires its own protective explosive towards it, sending a spray of metal shards
03:29into the projectile's flight path to either make it detonate in mid-air or break apart before it
03:34reaches the vehicle. Originally, since this system was designed to identify and activate against
03:39fast-moving targets, it wasn't considered effective against drones, which move far slower than missiles
03:45and rockets. But with drones becoming such a big threat, Russia decided to refine the Arena M to deal
03:50with them. And in July 2026, after months of work, Russian sources began to share the news that
03:57the T-72B3A main battle tanks, equipped with the latest version of the Arena M APS,
04:03were getting ready to support frontline assaults on Ukrainian positions. The reports also claimed that
04:09the Arena M was now able to intercept not only anti-tank missiles and shells, but also FPV drones.
04:15This had the potential to change everything. If Russia had truly found a way to make its tanks
04:21and armored vehicles virtually drone-proof, the intensity of its assaults can multiply overnight.
04:26The Kremlin would no longer need to be so cautious and conservative with its armored assets.
04:31All of a sudden, Ukraine could find itself facing off against vast tank columns, ready to blow holes
04:36in its defensive lines and reduce its fortifications to rubble, and it would no longer have an effective
04:41or reliable way to counter them. Russia, meanwhile, could redouble its efforts, making the most of
04:47the warm summer months to begin a bold new offensive in key areas along the front, and potentially
04:52capturing key pieces of territory that could allow it to push forward and make greater gains.
04:56Even though thousands of its tanks and armored vehicles have already been destroyed,
05:01Russia still has one of the biggest tank armies in the world, thanks to its vast stockpiles of Soviet-era
05:06systems. And even though many of those systems date back decades and have various flaws compared to
05:11more modern tanks, they're far from worthless. They still have extremely powerful guns,
05:17capable of obliterating vehicles, structures, and soldiers in their path. In other words,
05:22despite the fact that drones became such a dominant force in the war, tanks and armored vehicles still
05:27have the potential to make a massive difference. Russia just needed to find a way to increase their
05:32survivability and allow them to stay on the battlefield long enough to make a difference.
05:36Up to that point, all of its efforts had failed. Equipping tanks with makeshift anti-drone armor,
05:42like cope cages, for example, hadn't worked at all. Russian troops had tried welding spikes,
05:48lattices, mesh, and wire nets on top of their tanks, making it more difficult for Ukrainian drones to
05:53strike their weak points. But Ukraine's pilots soon found ways to work around these defenses,
05:58like using bomber drones to blow holes in cope cages from above before sending strike drones through
06:03those gaps to finish the job. The cope cages also made life a lot harder for Russian tank crews.
06:09The added weight meant that their vehicles were slower and harder to maneuver, and the various
06:13spikes and other additions even made it quite perilous to get in and out of these tanks as well.
06:18The addition of the Arena M, however, seemed like it could be a much bigger step in the right
06:23direction for Russia. It wouldn't make tanks invincible, some would still inevitably be damaged and
06:28destroyed, and the system was known to have certain limitations, like the fact that it could only
06:33carry 12 interceptor projectiles at a time. This meant that all Ukraine had to do was send a
06:38dozen drones towards a tank to exhaust its APS before sending in a final strike UAV to deliver
06:44the knockout blow. Still, those 12 munitions could help to buy the Russian tanks valuable time to move
06:50across the battlefield and fire their weapons at Ukraine's defenses. They could also open up opportunities
06:56for other vehicles or troops on foot to move up behind their tanks and overwhelm Ukrainian positions.
07:01Plus, if Ukraine suddenly had to use 10 times as many drones to take out each Russian tank,
07:07that would dramatically shift the economic equation of the war. Kyiv would be forced to spend far
07:12greater sums of money and materials on drone production if it wanted to continue cancelling
07:16out the Kremlin's armour. And this all came at a time when Russia was well and truly on the back
07:21foot.
07:21Its forces were struggling to make any meaningful gains along the front lines and were even being
07:26pushed back in some areas. Its losses had reached unsustainable levels, with the Kremlin no longer
07:32able to recruit enough new troops to replace those that were being killed and injured in Ukraine.
07:37And even on the home front, Russia was quite literally burning due to repeated Ukrainian UAV
07:42strikes on targets like oil refineries, supply lines, command posts and logistics facilities.
07:48With its economy in tatters and its prospects of victory growing slimmer by the day, Russia needed some
07:54way to turn the tide. It needed to get its armour back in the fight. And the Arena M appeared
07:59the
08:00one and only way to make that happen. All that was left was to put it to the test. In
08:04late July,
08:05that test arrived. But before we look at what happened and how it turned out for both sides,
08:10you're watching the military show. And if you haven't subscribed yet, now's the time.
08:16On July 22, Russian forces launched their largest mechanised assault in months in the
08:22occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine. Details of the assault were shared online by Ukraine's Azov Brigade.
08:28On July 22, the occupiers, using forces of the 8th and 41st armies along with the 90th Tank Division,
08:35attempted an assault in the sector held by the 1st Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine,
08:40involving dozens of units of armoured and light vehicles. Additional news reports reveal that tanks,
08:46armoured fighting vehicles, BM-21 Grad rocket systems, commercial trucks and supporting infantry,
08:53were all involved in this assault, along with multiple two-person motorcycle teams operating
08:58independently of the main mechanised force. The Azov Brigade reports that Russia also relied
09:03on its Gebera and Lancet strike drones in an attempt to control the airspace above the battlefield,
09:09along with a Tornado S-Multiple Launch Rocket System . This was a sizeable force,
09:15the likes of which Ukraine hadn't had to deal with for over a year.
09:18Russia's commanders also ordered the force to leave large amounts of space in between each vehicle,
09:23presumably to provide room for them to manoeuvre or take evasive action if they encountered the
09:28likes of mines, rockets or drones. In addition, the large mechanised force advanced from multiple axes,
09:34converging towards several small settlements around the village of Shakove. Again, this appeared
09:40to be a reasonably smart tactical decision. Rather than attacking with one dense column,
09:44Russia divided its forces and gave Ukraine more problems to deal with. Azov reports that the
09:49assault lasted for approximately four hours, and it didn't end well for the Russians at all.
09:55Perhaps they hoped that Ukraine wouldn't be expecting such a vast armoured force to arrive
09:59at its doorstep. Maybe they believe that after so many months of dealing with small assault squads,
10:04Ukrainian defenders might have forgotten how to deal with tanks and armoured vehicles.
10:08They were also banking on the Arena M to be the Difference Maker, the secret weapon that Ukraine
10:13would have no answer for. All of those hopes proved unfounded and fell apart in a matter of minutes.
10:19This particular part of the front is especially well defended, and the Ukrainian military isn't in
10:24the habit of leaving things to chance or simply hoping for the best. It takes numerous active measures
10:29to defend its valuable territory and prepare for every eventuality, and it was more than ready to
10:35repel the Russian assault. As soon as Ukraine's reconnaissance drones detected the advancing force,
10:40a rapid response plan was put into motion. Azov reports that its own troops, along with attached
10:45units, predicted the paths the Russians would take and block them. They set up mines and obstacles,
10:51while also using tactical aviation strikes to damage nearby bridges over the river that runs
10:56around and through Shakovey village, disrupting the enemy's advance. Faced with no clear way forward,
11:02the Russians tried to construct pontoon bridges to forge new paths over the river. In doing so,
11:07however, they simply gave Ukraine more targets to aim for. Within minutes, the skies over the
11:12battlefield were filled with FPV drones and heavy bomber drones, with Ukraine also relying on nearby
11:18artillery units to rain down fire from above on the Russian forces. Russia's Tornado S-MLRs was wiped out,
11:25while tactical aviation strikes eliminated the pontoons before they could be used. As for the tanks and other
11:31armored vehicles, many of those were wiped out as well, including those equipped with the Arena M.
11:36Footage clearly shows a T-72B3A tank suffering a drone strike while in motion, before additional
11:43UAVs moved in to finish the job. There are no images or video showing the Arena M actually functioning
11:49to repel any Ukrainian UAVs. That doesn't mean it didn't work at all, as this was a reportedly four-hour
11:55conflict, and there are only a few minutes of video footage available from it. The Arena M may
12:00indeed have succeeded in taking out a few drones, but in the end, it clearly wasn't enough to keep
12:05Russia's tanks alive long enough for this assault to succeed. The numbers speak for themselves.
12:11Azov reports,
12:12As a result of the professional actions of all units involved under the command of the 1st Corps
12:17Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine, using barrel artillery, multiple launch rocket systems,
12:23and attack drones, the following were destroyed. Seven tanks, six armored combat vehicles, one BM-21 Grad
12:30MLRS, one Tornado S-MLRS, three units of special equipment, and 47 units of light vehicles. 123 occupiers
12:39were eliminated, and 29 were wounded. The mechanized assault was repelled.
12:44The Russian Ministry of Defense has kept quiet about the operation, most likely out of shame
12:49and embarrassment at the extent of its failure. And while there is a chance that some of the
12:53infantry or motorcycle teams manage to make it past the main engagement area,
12:57this assault has to go down as a disaster for the Kremlin's forces. Numerous Russian military
13:03bloggers have stated as much, with several of the biggest voices condemning the Kremlin's commanders
13:07for giving the green light to what they feel was such a stupid and wasteful assault.
13:12The officer on the Front Channel, for example, wrote,
13:15In the era of total drone dominance, throwing mechanized columns into frontal assaults is not a
13:20tactic, but suicide. This is not a war. This is a massacre, carried out by the incompetent people
13:26from the Central Military District. The new active protection system of the T-72? Useless.
13:31It didn't save anyone. It didn't work. It's July 2026, and our idiot generals are still storming in
13:38columns. This is disgraceful. This is the height of incompetence. And such decisions must be held
13:44accountable to the fullest extent. Russian writer and political activist Vladimir Kucherenko,
13:50better known by his pen name, Maxim Kalashnikov, agreed. Writing on Telegram,
13:54Kalashnikov expressed shock that such assaults were still being carried out
13:58in the fifth year of the war, despite the fact that everyone should be aware of the threat of a
14:02drone war. He went on to demand that those who give the orders for such assaults are held accountable,
14:07stating that this is the only way the meat grinder will ever end.
14:11These aren't the views of everyday Russians. They're the views of some of the country's most
14:15extreme nationalists, the kind of people who want to see the Russian army wipe out Ukraine as we know
14:20it. And they largely agree that the country's current strategy is doomed to fail. And it's not hard to see
14:26why. In a matter of hours, Russia lost numerous high-value assets and approximately 150 troops,
14:32and it made no progress whatsoever. It went all in on the Arena M, believing that this system would
14:37make the difference. It even stripped away the spikes and cages from its tanks, since it was so
14:42confident that this new and improved APS would be more than sufficient to keep them alive. As the
14:48evidence shows, it wasn't. Analysts have pored over the footage from the conflict, with some concluding
14:53that the Arena M didn't even fire, and others believing it managed to eliminate a few drones
14:58before running out of munitions. Either way, the conclusion is clear. This system isn't the game
15:04changer the Kremlin wants it to be. It's simply not strong enough, meaning that Russia still has zero
15:09answer to Ukraine's drone dominance. As long as that continues, the Kremlin's forces will be stuck in a
15:15rut, forced to choose between two tactical approaches that have both proven to be ineffective. On the one
15:21hand, they might continue to bring back tanks and launch more mechanized assaults, hoping that the
15:26sheer volume of their armor eventually proves enough to overwhelm Ukraine's defenses. That's unlikely to
15:31happen, however, as Ukraine has proven on countless occasions that its drones are more than a match for
15:37even the best Russian tanks. On the other hand, Russia might decide to follow the advice of the military
15:42bloggers and keep its armor in reserve, ordering its engineers to work on improving the Arena M even
15:47further. Meanwhile, it'll have little choice but to continue sending small squads of soldiers
15:52towards Ukrainian positions, hoping that the odd one or two manage to infiltrate enemy positions
15:57and disrupt them from within. It's a less wasteful strategy, but extremely unlikely to produce the
16:03kind of broad sweeping gains that Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants to see to back up his belief
16:08that this war is still somehow winnable. And so, the Russian army remains stuck in limbo,
16:14trapped in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenario in which every approach fails and even
16:19the faintest slivers of progress are all but impossible to achieve. Ukraine's military,
16:24meanwhile, is only getting stronger. The country recently appointed a fearless new commander-in-chief,
16:29Major General Mikhailo Drapati, who you can learn more about in this video. Or to learn more about
16:35Kyiv's long-term plan to drag Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and bring an end to this
16:40conflict at last, check out this video. And finally, for more breaking news reports,
16:45insightful analysis and detailed breakdowns of the biggest battles, military equipment
16:49and tactics in the Russia-Ukraine war, subscribe to the military show today.
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