Russia’s New T-14 Armata Battle Tank Debuts in Ukraine

A Russian Armata tank, foreground rolls along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP)
A Russian Armata tank, foreground rolls along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP)
TT
20

Russia’s New T-14 Armata Battle Tank Debuts in Ukraine

A Russian Armata tank, foreground rolls along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP)
A Russian Armata tank, foreground rolls along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 6, 2018. (AP)

Russia has begun using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions "but they have not yet participated in direct assault operations," the RIA state news agency reported on Tuesday, quoting a source close the matter.

RIA said that the tanks have been fitted with extra protection on their flanks and crews have undergone "combat coordination" at training grounds in Ukraine.

The T-14 tank has an unmanned turret, with crew remotely controlling the armaments from "an isolated armored capsule located in the front of the hull."

The tanks have a maximum speed on the highway of 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour, RIA reported.

In January, British military intelligence reported that Russian forces in Ukraine were reluctant to accept the first tranche of the tanks due to their "poor condition."

It also said that any deployment of the T-14 would likely be "a high-risk decision" for Russia, and one taken primarily for propaganda purposes.

"Production is probably only in the low tens, while commanders are unlikely to trust the vehicle in combat," the British military said.

"Eleven years in development, the program has been dogged with delays, reduction in planned fleet size, and reports of manufacturing problems."

The Kremlin ordered production of 2,300 of the tanks - first unveiled in 2015 - by 2020, but this was later stretched to by 2025, according to Russian media reports.

The Interfax news agency reported in December 2021, that the state conglomerate Rostec had started production of some 40 tanks, with an anticipated delivery after 2023.



Pope Appears to be Overcoming Setback in Recovery from Pneumonia

FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows an image of Pope Francis displayed with a digital video-mapping at the Obelisco as the worlds pray for the pontiff's health, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 21, 2025. REUTERS/Martin Cossarini/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows an image of Pope Francis displayed with a digital video-mapping at the Obelisco as the worlds pray for the pontiff's health, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 21, 2025. REUTERS/Martin Cossarini/File Photo
TT
20

Pope Appears to be Overcoming Setback in Recovery from Pneumonia

FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows an image of Pope Francis displayed with a digital video-mapping at the Obelisco as the worlds pray for the pontiff's health, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 21, 2025. REUTERS/Martin Cossarini/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows an image of Pope Francis displayed with a digital video-mapping at the Obelisco as the worlds pray for the pontiff's health, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 21, 2025. REUTERS/Martin Cossarini/File Photo

Pope Francis was up and receiving therapy on Monday after apparently overcoming a setback in his recovery from pneumonia. The Vatican said he is stable, off mechanical ventilation and is showing no sign of new infection following a respiratory crisis late last week.
“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in its update from Gemelli hospital, where Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14.
On Monday, he had coffee and breakfast and was undergoing therapy, The Associated Press reported.
Earlier, doctors reported the 88-year-old pope spent all day Sunday without using the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask that pumps oxygen into his lungs that he had to use following the coughing episode and crisis on Friday. Francis did continue to receive high flow supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube.
The respiratory crisis sparked fears of a new lung infection because Francis inhaled some vomit. Doctors aspirated it and said they needed 24 to 48 hours to determine if any new infection took hold.
On Sunday evening, they said Francis remained stable, with no fever or signs of an infection, indicating he had overcome the crisis. His prognosis remained guarded, however, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.
Francis on Sunday also received a visit from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra. The content of their talks wasn’t known, but even when at the Vatican, Francis meets at least weekly with them.
He again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance from the hospital. Instead, the Vatican distributed a message written by the pope from the 10th floor in which he thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days. Francis said he was living his hospitalization as an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering everywhere.
“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”
The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 after his bronchitis worsened and turned into a complex pneumonia in both lungs.
On Sunday night at the Vatican, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening Rosary prayer in St. Peter's Square.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” said Krajewski, who is the pope's personal Almoner, a centuries-old job of handing out alms. Francis has elevated the job to make it an extension of his own personal charity.
The American Cardinal Robert Prevost, who heads the Vatican's powerful office for bishops, was celebrating Monday night's prayer.