Russia is refurbishing Soviet-era tanks

In Ukraine, the counteroffensive launched by Kyiv two months ago appears to have stalled, despite some small advances by the Ukrainian military. But although it is difficult to establish a precise balance, Moscow will have lost the largest number of armored tanks since the start of the conflict in February 2022. The Moscow Times site reveals it The Russian Army uses Soviet-era tanks at the forefront, to cover these losses. Journalists of this Russian site came to this conclusion by analyzing images on Google Earth. One of the largest Russian warehouses, located in Vakhzhanovo in the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Far East, has been emptied of a third of its equipment.

Five months before the war, satellite photos of the Vakhzhanovo base showed armored tanks stored in the open, and according to the Moscow Times, about 3,840 devices could be counted against about 2,600 a year after the offensive began. Half of these tanks have lost their turrets, probably recycled at the front. Pavel Luzin, an independent expert on the Russian military, has no apparent surprise: “There are no miracles in this world. He is analyzing. As in Russia, only thirty new tanks can be produced per year, You have to use old tanks.”

T-72s have been in service since 1973

On the Ukrainian side, losses were estimated at just 550 tanks. International aid to Ukraine significantly narrows the gap between Russian and Ukrainian military equipment.

The tanks in question are specifically the T-72s in service since 1973. Before they were sent to the front, they were more or less modernized depending on the parts available. The T-72 was a Soviet battle tank equipped with a 125 mm gun, a 7.62 mm to 12.7 mm submachine gun, and a smoke grenade launcher. It can accommodate three people and has a range of 480 km.

According to Oryx, a Dutch open data analysis site, Russia lost more than 2,000 of the 3,000 tanks it had at the beginning of the conflict.