2024-06-28T14:40:00+03:00 War in Ukraine 2024-09-15T04:17:49+03:00

Ukrainian news

There are fewer and fewer tanks at russian storage bases. With such intensity of fighting, they will be enough

There are fewer and fewer tanks at russian storage bases. With such intensity of fighting, they will be enough for another 2-3 years

In the two and a half years since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, stocks of armored vehicles at russian storage and preservation bases have significantly decreased. Experts believe that at the current intensity of fighting, russia will no longer be able to restore equipment in two or three years.

Deutsche Welle writes about this with reference to an investigation by journalists of the German Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

Satellite images of 87 storage and preservation bases for tanks and combat armored vehicles on the territory of the russian federation show that the stocks of such armored vehicles are gradually running out.

SZ journalists drew attention to the 111th Central Tank Reserve Base in the Khabarovsk Krai. In April 2021, 857 units of armored vehicles could be found on it.

Already in October 2022, this number decreased to 431 vehicles. This year, it was possible to find only a few vehicles at the 111th base, which indicates that the stock of tanks at this facility was almost completely depleted.

A similar situation emerged at the 1295th Central Armored Equipment Storage Base in Primorye.

On satellite images taken before the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into Ukraine, journalists counted about 300 vehicles suitable for restoration. In the summer of 2023, there are practically none left.

As SZ writes, a similar situation is observed at other similar facilities: vehicles suitable for restoration have been removed, and only the rusty skeletons of tanks and armored vehicles remain in the open air.

It is noted that there is still equipment in closed hangars. How many such vehicles exist remains unclear.

Experts interviewed by SZ believe that it will soon be impossible to use old preserved armored vehicles to replace losses. At the same time, no one undertakes to predict when exactly this will happen.

"We can expect that the lack of equipment will become a problem for russia in about two years," said Gustav Gressel from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Experts of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) also believe that at the current intensity of fighting, russia will hold out for another two or three years.

"I believe that russia still has about 3,200 tanks in reserve, although the vast majority of them are in poor condition and in need of significant repairs," the publication quoted Michael Gjerstad of the IISS as saying.

At the same time, the IISS emphasized that the tanks in the russian army will definitely not run out suddenly.

Such uncertainty in forecasts is due to the fact that, as of today, russia is able to produce about 1,500 tanks and 3,000 armored combat vehicles annually.

SZ writes that this is not enough to compensate for losses. Thus, in 2023, 86% of the equipment sent by the russians to the front were not new machines, but removed from storage bases and restored.

Experts of the RUSI research center believe that russia is firmly convinced that time is in its favor. But this does not apply to heavy armored vehicles.

According to them, if the West continues to support Ukraine, the russian army will not be able to make a major breakthrough within the next year and a half. After that, the military power of the russian federation will begin to weaken.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, as of June 27, the russian occupation army had lost 8,000 tanks and almost 15,500 armored vehicles.

It will be recalled that the day before, the American publication The New York Times reported with reference to Western officials that in May, the russian army lost more than a thousand people killed and wounded every day.