Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, Ukrainian civilians have been defending themselves against the Russian military. This includes taking over some military tanks or weapons. Ukraine's National Agency for the Protection against Corruption (NAPC) recently announced that captured Russian tanks or other equipment were not subject to declaration and would not be taxed.
Some viral social media posts are claiming a used Russian military tank was listed for sale on auction site eBay. One tweet, archived here, included a screenshot of the purported eBay listing.
“Ukrainians are selling used Russian Tanks on eBay,” the tweet said. The image attached to the tweet showed the “fully functional” Russian T-72 tank was listed for $400,000 and was only available for pickup in Ukraine.
THE QUESTION
Is there a listing from Ukraine for a fully functional Russian T-72 tank on eBay?
THE SOURCES
- eBay
- DefenceTalk.com
- Google archive
THE ANSWER
No, there is not a listing for a fully functional Russian T-72 tank on eBay’s site. The photo of the tank seen in the screenshot of the listing dates back to 2010.
WHAT WE FOUND
The photo of the tank used in the purported eBay listing was not taken recently. By using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY was able to trace that identical photo to a blog on DefenceTalk.com that was published in November 2010.
VERIFY also searched the eBay site using a variety of keywords in an attempt to find the specific listing for a used, but fully functional, Russian T-72 tank. The T-72 tanks were put into production in the early 1970s and despite being nearly a half-century old, they are still being used by the Russian military.
There were no matches found for the listing seen in the viral social media posts. VERIFY also did a Google search for “used Russian T-72 tank - fully functional,” which is the exact eBay listing title, and found no results.
On eBay, there are listings for items like Russian T-72 tank toys, but not an entire operating military tank. According to eBay policy: “For safety, the sale of military items is restricted. While military surplus items and body armor that follows our policy can be sold, explosives and military ordnance aren't allowed on eBay.”
VERIFY reached out to eBay for comment and did not hear back at the time of publishing.
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