 Ukrainian T-64 tank stops Russian T-72B3 near Avdeevka. A Ukrainian T-64 tank stopped a T-72B3 of the occupiers, which was breaking through near the village of Stepov in the Avdeevka direction of the Donetsk region. A Russian tank was hit by a shell and then by an FPV drone, which ran with the help of Ukrainian tankers. It should be noted that development of the T-64 main battle tank commenced in 1954. First production tanks were delivered to the Soviet army in 1963. Officially it was adopted only in 1967. It was publicly revealed in 1970. Over 6,000 of these tanks of all versions were built. Some sources report that a total of 13 100 T-64 series tanks were built. During its introduction to the T-64 was a very advanced tank with a number of new design features. However, it had a number of significant drawbacks as well. It was never exported outside the Soviet Union. Currently it is in service with Ukraine and Uzbekistan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine ended up with around 1,500 of these tanks. Since 2014, upgraded Ukrainian Army T-64 tanks saw combat during ongoing military conflict in Ukraine. Also, since 2014, a large number of surplus Russian T-64 tanks have been supplied to Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.