The Ukrainian battlefield of Putin’s War is incredibly lethal. In the sixty days since Putin’s three-to-four day invasion of Ukraine started, Russia has had 1,700 vehicles or major pieces of equipment destroyed and another 1,200 captured. There were 560 tank losses and 214 captures, while the loss of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicle/armored vehicles was 930. 330 had been captured. These numbers aren’t estimates. They are actual floor counts that were geocoded. The same method has resulted in Ukraine losing at least 200 tanks and 70 of its armored personnel carriers, 790 infantry fighting vehicle/armored personnel carrier destroyed, and 90 taken. It is not known how many vehicles were destroyed or damaged due to wear and tear. This link will show you the entire inventory.
By way of scale, Russia entered the war with about 120 Battalion Tactical Groups (BTG)) representing approximately 75% of the Russian Army’s combat power as well as the cutting edge of that power. Remember that this war is not just about the Russian Army. There is Naval Infantry, as well as troops from Russia. Rosgvardiya, or the National Guard of Russia (read more about that august body in this post, Top General in Putin’s Personal Army Is Arrested by FSB). A BTG at full strength looks something like this.
All the tank losses in 70 BTGs are represented by these tank losses.
Because of this lethality, the Ukrainian government is begging for weapons more from those who have them. There are many weapons available, including munitions like Javelin, Starstreak and tanks. Also, there is artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and tanks. The US and Britain are sending cutting edge weapons to Ukraine, but is it what they really need? There have been a lot of fits and starts, we all know the on-again-off-again story of the transfer of MiG fighters belonging to Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia to Ukraine *Biden Junta Duplicity Revealed After Poland Declares MiGs for Ukraine Are Ready to Go). But now it looks like things are headed in the right direction unless you are one of those who think Putin’s invasion is justified.
That the Ukrainian Army has reached ‘tank parity’ with the Russians in Ukraine is significant. Terrain in the east is more conducive to combined arms maneuver, & numbers will matter. So will good leadership & tactics, which is where the Ukrainians hugely outmatch the Russians. https://t.co/LhX4LltEME
— Mick Ryan, AM (@WarintheFuture) April 21, 2022
It is amazing to see that Ukraine has more tanks than Russia on the battlefield.
Thanks to European resupplies, Ukraine’s military now has more tanks on the battlefield than Russia does two months into the war, according to the Pentagon.
The delivery in recent weeks of Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Kyiv from the Czech Republic and other European Nato allies has effectively eroded Russia’s advantage, experts have claimed.
“Right now, the Ukrainians have more tanks in Ukraine than the Russians do, and they certainly have the purview to use them,” an unnamed senior US defence official told reporters on Thursday.
Ukraine’s armed forces have previously claimed Russia has lost more than 680 of its tanks, the majority of which were destroyed, while some changed hands after being found abandoned.
There is a wealth of footage online that shows Russian tanks and armoured cars on fire. Others appear to be lying abandoned by roads in rural Ukraine or being pulled by Ukrainian tractor.Experts have put the significant Russian losses down to the advanced anti-tank weapons Western nations have given to Ukraine, as well as poor maintenance, and lagging morale among Moscow’s recruits.
“That the Ukrainian Army has reached ‘tank parity’ with the Russians in Ukraine is significant,” said Mick Ryan, a retired Army Major General and Adjunct Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think-tank.
“Terrain in the east is more conducive to combined arms manoeuvre, and numbers will matter. So will good leadership and tactics, which is where the Ukrainians hugely outmatch the Russians.”
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Although not the best military equipment, T-72 is versatile and, unlike Western tanks, can withstand tough terrain or deep-fording rivers.
The US has donated hundreds of million of dollars of aid to Ukraine but has not provided any tanks, as its military still uses Soviet-era equipment.
These tanks are made of Soviet junk. Because the Ukrainian Army knows the tanks, the NATO nations send more of them to Ukraine. Some of them, like the 100+ Polish T-72s, have had substantial upgrades such as thermal imaging, but technically they aren’t in the same league as a main battle tank produced in Western Europe. Contrary to what the article claims, Western tanks are better at cross-country performance. The only time a tank equipped with snorkels works is when it’s shown in Soviet propaganda videos. Going into the next phase of Putin’s War, the Ukrainians will have numerical superiority, superiority in training, and a slight advantage in the quality of their tanks.
Czechia signed an agreement with Ukraine for the repair of Ukrainian tanks. It is possible that Slovakia could also participate in this endeavor. Although it’s being described as an evacuating tank project from Ukraine, I believe that the Czech experts will be able to end up in Ukraine.
Russia has lost the numerical advantage it had over Ukraine’s regular army and is now in worse shape. Their personnel situation is likely to worsen with the release of conscripts from active service and increased draft resistance. With the help of several thousand volunteers from abroad, the weakly equipped Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces are growing by leaps. The new Ukrainian Army formations will be entering the battlefield soon. Russia will face an army qualitatively superior to its own in terms of training and morale in a few weeks. They also have an army that outnumbers their tanks and artillery in a matter if days.
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