Russia has had to resort to using 50-year-old Cold War-era tanks after losing over 3,000 of the vehicles since 2022, new estimates have said.
Putin’s forces have lost more than 3,000 tanks and 2,000 other armoured vehicles since the beginning of the war in Ukraine – a total of 5,500, new figures from UK military think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) say.
IISS Director General Dr Bastian Giegerich said the war – which has seen Russia lose over 1,000 tanks in the last year alone – has “exposed fissures” in their armed forces.
Dr Giegerich continued: “Russia's battlefield tank losses are greater than the number it had when it launched its offensive in 2022.
Reports say Putin's Russia had been sending 40-year-old T-62 tanks like this one to the front lines
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“Moscow has been able to replenish, but the vehicles that emerge from Russia's production facilities are in most cases, not new.”
His quotes follow widespread reports that Russia had been repurposing 40-year-old T-62 tanks – themselves slightly upgraded versions of 1960s stock – and sending them to the front lines.
The war has been a sinkhole for weaponry on both sides, with attritional battles raging on for years in ‘meat-grinders’ like Bakhmut with little sign of attacking or defensive progress.
As a result, Putin has had to trade “quality for quantity”, Dr Giegerich said, as Moscow continues to funnel ever-older resources into the fight.LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Ukraine is littered with destroyed Russian tanks, like this one in Trostianets
Reuters
The depletion in Russian tank stockpiles could set the clock ticking for Russia’s army, with one ex-military source suggesting the country may only have two to three years’ worth of resources.
As the war rages on, statistics can often be murky, but Ukraine claims Russia has lost 400,000 soldiers, 24 ships and boats, and 657 aircraft.
But Russia has been trying to control perceptions about its losses, IISS researchers said, with Putin wanting to project an image of resistance to Ukraine’s counter-attacking efforts.
The think tank’s Douglas Barrie described Putin’s claims of technological superiority via long-range missile systems in his infamous Tucker Carlson interview as “mischief-making” and suggested experimental Russian tech may never see battle.
With Russian tank stockpiles depleting, the UK is readying its forces for a large-scale Nato exercise in Poland
PA
Barrie said: “To be honest, if you actually look at the systems they've currently fielded, they don't substantiate his claims.
“When [Putin] talked about various ‘wonder weapons’, quite a lot of those wonder weapons remain in development.
“It's an open question as to whether we'll see all of those ever make it into service.”
Questions hang over Russia’s ability to keep up in Ukraine and beyond, despite its desire to be seen as an equal to the West, the IISS’s Henry Boyd said.
Boyd continued: “I think it's been a long semi-political goal to be able to advertise Russia as being the West's equal in military capability.
“At the moment, that is not the case across the board – they're still some way behind.”
The reports of Russian losses come as all 31 Nato states and Sweden begin their Steadfast Defender exercise to provide what Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said would be “reassurance against the Putin menace”.
The exercise saw 20,000 British personnel leave for Poland yesterday in a clear show of Nato’s strength as the war in Ukraine rumbles on.