Russia's depleted tank reserves expose vulnerabilities in Ukraine
Jarosław Wolski, a Polish defence analyst, discussed the number of armoured vehicles the Russians lost during the Ukraine war. He noted that the situation with artillery and tanks is becoming particularly interesting and, at the same time, concerning from the perspective of the invaders.
Data from the creators of the Oryx blog, who document Russian equipment losses, clearly show that after 1,000 days of war, Ukraine has become a graveyard for Russian equipment. The numbers are relentless for the invaders and indicate that since February 2022, the defending army has managed to eliminate over 10,000 Russian armoured vehicles.
How many tanks have the Russians lost?
Out of this total, about 3,600 are tanks. However, as Jarosław Wolski emphasised in his post on the X platform, official numbers do not show everything. The Russian losses are even more significant because "there are wrecks that have not been photographed, and there are damaged vehicles which, after evacuation to the rear, turn out to be unfit for repair".
According to the analyst, the Russians can annually restore about 1,400 to 1,600 tanks, of which 400 to 600 are new units, and the rest are equipment recovered from storage. Jarosław Wolski believes that the second half of this year and the beginning of next year represent the peak of Russian "restoration capabilities," which will then sharply decline due to the depletion of vehicles fit for refurbishment.
This analysis coincides with reports regarding satellite data showing that Russian bases with post-Soviet equipment are indeed being depleted. In November of this year, attention was directed to storage facilities in Bui, from which the vast majority of tanks have already disappeared.
Older and older tanks in Putin's army
The most valuable and best Russian tanks in Ukraine are the T-90M, equipped with a 2A46M-5 125-mm cannon, an improved fire control system, and modular Relikt reactive armour. Also noteworthy are the heavily armoured T-80BVM and T-72B3, which, like the T-90M, have advanced optronics.
However, only some Russian brigades are equipped with such tanks. On the front lines, T-72B tanks are often seen (one of the most frequently destroyed tanks by Ukrainians), and even older models like the T-62M, T-62, or T-55. Due to their age, technical condition, and equipment, these tanks do not provide crews with adequate protection and situational awareness. They have very weak armour, which is not an obstacle to heavy anti-tank weapons but even to improvised kamikaze drones.
The problem for the Russians is not just tanks
Jarosław Wolski also emphasised that "the real bottleneck is the critical state of barrel artillery among the Russians, which they are trying to compensate with gliding bombs." In its recent analysis, the Spanish newspaper "El Mundo" pointed out that seemingly outdated artillery is the most important weapon in the war in Ukraine.
