Ukraine has depleted its supply of Russian T-72 tanks, forcing soldiers to fight on foot скачать в хорошем качестве

Ukraine has depleted its supply of Russian T-72 tanks, forcing soldiers to fight on foot

The Russian army is probably running out of T-72 tanks , which until then formed the backbone of the Russian Armed Forces' tank fleet. This is evidenced by combat loss statistics cited by OSINT researcher Richard Vereker. "Russian tank losses show an unusual picture," he writes in his blog on the X platform . Vereker noted that in recent months, T-72 losses have begun to decline rapidly and by March had fallen to almost zero. Currently, two-thirds of Russian tank losses are T-80s, which ceased to be mass-produced in 1996. Another quarter of losses are T-62s, which were produced until 1975. And only in third place in terms of losses is the newest tank used in combat, the T-90. Noting the progressive trend of a reduction in the total number of tanks lost by the Russians, Vereker asks: where have the T-72s gone? Analyzing the losses of various T-72 modifications – from the oldest to the latest upgrades – the analyst states that the ratio of losses between them has not changed in recent months. In his opinion, this means that “new” T-72s are no longer arriving at the front in significant quantities. Responding to comments from subscribers, the analyst expressed doubt that the Russians, for some reason, could have withdrawn units equipped with T-72 tanks from the front. As media reported, by the summer of 2024, Russian storage bases had almost completely exhausted their reserves of MT-LB armored tractors , which the Russians often used on the front lines as armored personnel carriers. By the beginning of 2025, these vehicles had become a rarity at the front . Currently, approximately the same trend is observed with tanks. In recent months, their losses have been steadily decreasing , although the intensity of battles is only increasing. Analysts consider this a sure sign that there are simply fewer tanks in the Russian army. Worse for the Russians, lately they’ve been losing—in suicidal frontal assaults—far more tanks than they could replace even in the most optimistic industrial scenario. All that is to say, the Russians might be running out of tanks. If the Kremlin’s goal is to achieve an armored breakthrough, it first must rebuild its tank corps. That means, at the very least, losing fewer tanks—if not also generating many more replacement tanks. That begs for “prolonged stagnation at the front. But the Kremlin does have sources of replacement tanks: the Uralvagonzavod factory in southern Russia, which manufactures new T-90Ms, plus four other facilities that repair and modernize old tanks that have been moldering in storage. Some for decades. The big question—one that no outside analyst definitively has answered—is how many tanks Uralvagonzavod can build, and how tanks the other plants can repair.