Image source: topwar.ru
Russia allegedly lost almost half of its main battle tanks in the special operation. Western analysts claim that in the nine months since the start of the SVO, the losses of Russian tank troops amounted to 40 percent of combat vehicles from their numbers as of February last year.
Such data was provided by specialists of the British International Center for Strategic Studies (IISS).
They note that at the beginning of the conflict, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation had 2,927 units of tank equipment, and after nine months of the conflict, the Russians allegedly had only 1,800 vehicles left. Western analysts claim that the losses of the most actively used Russian tanks in the conflict in Ukraine reaches half. Because of this, they say, Moscow has to use Soviet-era combat vehicles stored in warehouses.
At the same time, British experts say, the number of tank troops of Ukraine has increased during the fighting. This happened, they claim, due to the supply of tanks made in the USSR to Kiev from Eastern European states. In addition, the British claim, the AFU captured a certain amount of Russian military equipment, including tank equipment, during the conflict.
Summing up the results of the study, the head of the IISS analytical center, John Chipman, said that the special operation was a "political and military failure" for Russia. In his opinion, the military actions revealed shortcomings both in the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and in the armament of the Russian army.
