Russia Approaches Grim Milestone in Reported Tank Losses

Russian forces in Ukraine have lost almost 8,000 tanks since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion, according to figures published by Ukraine's military on Thursday.

Three were lost in the past 24 hours of fighting, the update posted to social media said on Thursday, bringing Kyiv's total tally of Moscow's tank losses since February, 2022, to 7,987.

Newsweek has not independently verified these numbers, and has approached the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Although precise figures are hard to come by, Ukraine's statistics do offer some insight into the toll wrought by more than two years of bitter fighting. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv regularly offers up figures counting their own losses, and experts say any tallies put forward by one side in a conflict should be treated with caution.

Back in February, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said Russian tank losses had surpassed 3,000, a "number greater than the number it had when it launched its offensive in 2022."

In late April, British armed forces minister, Leo Docherty, said U.K. estimates put Russian main battle tank losses at nearly 3,000, with total Russian armored vehicle losses standing at more than 10,000.

According to Dutch open-source intelligence outlet Oryx, which tracks equipment losses in Ukraine, Moscow has lost at least 3,139 tanks since February 2022. This count only includes visually-verified losses, meaning the true tally is likely to be much higher.

Kyiv's count of Russian tank losses often spikes during drawn-out battles or concerted offensives on Ukrainian positions.

Ukrainian sources and open-source intelligence indicated Moscow sustained extensive equipment losses, as well as casualties, in the fight for Avdiivka, the former Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Ukraine that the Kremlin has controlled since February.

Experts previously told Newsweek that early on in Russia's war effort, there were significant failures in organization and planning of tank assaults, as well as poor training, low morale, and ruptures in the chain of command.

The most experienced tank crews were committed to the fight in the very few weeks of the full-scale war, leaving behind new recruits with few trainers to instruct them.

To backfill extensive losses, Russia pulled tanks from storage and placed its defense industry on a war footing, able to refill its stocks while taking constant hits from Ukrainian forces.

In late January, the British government estimated that Russia could likely produce around 100 main battle tanks a month to prop up its armored assaults. Domestic Russian tank production has increased fivefold since February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February.

Russia has already begun to sacrifice quality for quantity with its tanks, the IISS evaluated earlier this year.

"There is no doubt that Russian heavy-armor losses in Ukraine have been vast,"
Michael Gjerstad, an IISS research analyst said this month. But how quickly Russia can replace lost tanks—particularly its T-90s, which are considered its most capable—is in doubt, Gjerstad argued.

Ukraine often publicizes footage appearing to show the successful targeting of high-value assets like T-90s, typically using explosive first-person view (FPV) drones.

Ukraine does not provide a breakdown of which tanks it says it has damaged or destroyed. Russia has lost at least 144 T-90 tank variants in Ukraine, according to Oryx.

As tanks became increasingly targeted by Ukrainian drones, footage has emerged of Russia placing protective shields around its tanks in the hopes of fending off the incoming drones. Ukraine, too, has stared down Russian FPV drone attacks and taken precautions to safeguard its tanks, including U.S.-donated Abrams.

Ukraine's tank losses have also been significant, buoyed not by a defense industry that can replenish the gaps but by Western aid deliveries. Ukraine initially received a smattering of Soviet-era tanks, replacing like-for-like the vehicles it was losing from its original fleet, before receiving Western-made Leopard, Challenger and Abrams tanks from early 2023.

Moscow's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine had lost a combined total of 16,374 tanks and other armored combat vehicles since early 2022. This could not be independently verified.

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