Tanks in Russia’s army have reduced from 2,927 to 1,800
(Picture: Getty Images)Russia’s army is estimated to have lost nearly 40 per cent of its pre-war fleet of tanks in the first nine months of fighting in Ukraine, analysis by a specialist think tank shows.
The number of tanks in Russia’s army have reduced from 2,927 to 1,800, or by 38 per cent, the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) says.
That rises to as much as 50 per cent for some key tanks used in combat, forcing Russia to call on its cold war-era stocks, the Guardian reports.
Russia currently has an estimated 5,000 old tanks still in stock, according to reports.
John Chipman, IISS chair, said the war had been “a political and military failure for Russia”.
“Russia’s actions over the past year have raised questions not only over the competence of its military and senior military leadership, but also over command cohesion,” he said on Wednesday, while launching the IISS’s annual Military Balance audit of the world’s armed forces.
Mr Chipman claimed that Russia had lost “around 50 percent of its pre-invasion fleet” and slow industrial production was forcing Moscow to rely on older stored weapons.
The think tank’s figures are based on open source images from drones, satellites and on the battlefield, collated between the start of the war on February 24 and the end of November 2022.
Russian overoptimism meant that it suffered heavy tank losses at the beginning of the war, particularly in the abortive attack on Kyiv.
Meanwhile Ukraine has increased its tank count by capturing an estimated 500 from Russia, according to IISS analyst Henry Boyd.
It has also had significant donations from Poland, the Czech Republic and other states with Soviet-era armour.
At least 28 countries have so far committed to arming Ukraine, with troops now learning how to use tanks.
At least 80 elite armoured vehicles have been promised by the West to help Kyiv’s forces, with the war now nearing the one-year mark. The UK, US, and Germany are among the countries to have pledged military aid, and the first of Canada’s tanks arrived last week.
The UK is sending 14 Challenger II tanks.
Ben Barry, a land warfare analyst, said he believed Ukraine would receive about a quarter of the 1,000 tanks and fighting vehicles it had sought. Its tank force is thought to be still half the size of Russia’s.
Mr Barry concluded that, as a result, “we can expect another bloody year”.
