Watch: Ukraine drops home-made bomb directly into Russian tank hatch

Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian tank by dropping a hand grenade from a drone through its hatch.

In an unverified video posted on Twitter, the drone hovers above the T62-M tank, one of the Russian army's favourite battlefield weapons, and then releases its tiny bomb.

The grenade, which is encased in a plastic case shaped like a missile, is called a "fish bait bomb". It falls directly through the hatch of the tank, which is daubed with the letter Z, Russia's pro-war military insignia. There is a small explosion and a then puff of smoke.

The Twitter account Ukraine Weapons Tracker, which has more than 600,000 followers, called it "a first Russian T-62M tank loss in the south", although Ukraine has previously advertised hits on T-62Ms.

In other videos posted on Twitter, Ukraine's army showed how it flies commercial drones with "fish bait bombs" dangling underneath them.

"It is a plastic shell meant to be dropped and then to pop open, meant for some other purpose (maybe placing bait for animals?), and the Ukrainian military has found out it can hold a Soviet hand grenade," another Twitter user wrote.

Soft target for attackers

The T-62M is a Soviet-era tank that forms the backbone of the Russian military. Tough and rugged, one of its only weak spots is the hatch on its turret.

If this is left open, which it often is to ventilate the airless cockpit during the scorching Ukrainian summer, it presents a potential soft target for attackers.

The Ukraine-Russia war has been compared to a fight between David and Goliath, with Ukraine playing the role of the determined underdog forced to come up with increasingly inventive ways to attack its enemy.

As well as using commercial drones to creep up on unsuspecting Russian forces to ambush them with hand grenades, Ukrainians have converted fireworks into missiles and repopularised the Molotov cocktail.

Western analysts have said that this inventiveness and ability to adapt and operate like a guerilla force, helped the Ukrainian army repel the initial attacks by Russia in February.