Unlike older, Soviet-era tanks, the T-90’s 125mm smoothbore cannon has an automatic targeting system. The electrical turret responds to laser warning sensors dotted around the tank and turns its gun towards the target.

Both the US-made Abrams and British Challenger 2 tanks have similar features, known as “hunter-killer systems”.

“It’ll likely be a combination between inexperienced crews and poor electronics,” Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army tank commander, said.

He added: “It’s very easy for inexperienced people to become very disoriented in a tank because a tank’s hull can move in one direction, the turret could be in another direction and the commander’s sight could be in a completely other direction, which is why we get the term ‘disco head’ because people can easily become disoriented and the tank spins out of control.

“It could also be an electronics failure. Western tanks have a quite sophisticated fire control system, and the Russians don’t appear to have got it right.