Russian forces will run out of ammunition by the end of the year, Ukraine's Intelligence Chief has warned.
Kyrylo Budanov believes that Russia only has enough fuel, ammunition and military equipment to sustain another seven months of full effort.
Despite Russian forces having recently captured most of the town of Lyman, in the north of Donetsk Oblast, pictures on social media show ancient T-62 tanks on trains heading to the frontline in Ukraine.
The tanks are believed to be around 60 years old and were seen pulled out of storage.
Some say this is a huge indicator of Moscow's fighting stock as its arsenal has been decimated.
Budanov predicts that by the new year, Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces will be depleted.
He told Sky News : "The breaking point will be in the second part of August.
"Most of the active combat actions will have finished by the end of this year. As a result, we will renew Ukrainian power in all our territories that we have lost including Donbas and the Crimea."
The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) intelligence assessment says Russia’s Southern Grouping of Forces will receive the T-62 tanks and their presence "highlights Russia’s shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment.”
Ukrainian forces will likely wipe out the tanks with basic rocket-propelled grenades and they will not have to use their sophisticated weaponry to wipe out the decrepit vehicles.
Unconfirmed Ukrainian claims place Russia's losses after three months of the war at 1300 tanks, over 3000 armoured vehicles, 600 artillery pieces and close to 30,000 troops.
Despite Bundanov's predictions that Putin's forces will be gone by the end of the year, Kremlin Senator Andrei Turchak said: "I wanted to say once again, that Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about that. There will be no return to the past."
But in another sign of weakness and indicator of a high Russian death rate, the maximum conscription age has been scrapped.
The Russian Duma voted to remove the upper age limit for military conscription so that any male over the age of 18 can serve. Before, anyone over 40 was disallowed.
The MoD said in the first three months of the war, Russia has likely suffered "a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet Union during its nine-year war in Afghanistan."
It said a combination of "poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility, and a command approach which is prepared to reinforce failure and repeat mistakes" has led to this high casualty rate.
The T-62 tanks, which were first used in 1962, were spotted being carried by train into the city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine.
A Ukrainian army post on Facebook wrote that as a result of losses during hostilities, the Russian enemy "was forced to withdraw" T-62 tanks from storage "to recruit reserve battalion tactical groups that are being formed to be sent to Ukraine"
In just one week, 70 Russian tanks were reported destroyed by Ukrainian artillery as they attempted to cross a river.
Ukraine claims more than 1300 have been destroyed, with open-source intelligence confirming 700.
