UK intelligence reveals number of Russian armored vehicles destroyed in Ukraine
Photo: Russia has lost 2,600 battle tanks and 4,900 armored vehicles in Ukraine (Getty Images)
Russian ground forces have lost about 2,600 main battle tanks and 4,900 other armored combat vehicles in Ukraine since the beginning of the war and until January 25, 2024, according to the UK Ministry of Defense.
In 2023 Russia lost about 40% less equipment than in 2022.
"It is highly likely that the reduction in armored vehicle attrition was due to the increasingly positional nature of the conflict in 2023 and because Russia spent a significant proportion of the year in a defensive posture," the report says.
Since the beginning of October 2023, the Russian army has been on the offensive in eastern Ukraine. During this period, the losses of Russian armored vehicles increased: Russian troops lost up to 365 tanks and 700 armored vehicles, but achieved only a minor territorial advance.
"However, Russia can probably generate at least 100 MBTs a month and therefore retains the capacity to replace battlefield losses and continue this level of offensive activity for the foreseeable future," the British Ministry of Defense notes.
Russia's military budget
In 2024, for the first time since the Soviet era, the Russian government intends to spend almost a third of all expenditures on the maintenance of the army and the military-industrial complex.
In late December, Rostekh CEO Sergei Chemezov said that the corporation had sharply increased production of tanks, armored vehicles, and shells for the army.
Tank production has increased sevenfold in two years, Chemezov told President Vladimir Putin. Production of armored vehicles has increased more than fivefold, and production of ammunition, from small arms to artillery shells, has increased 50-fold, Chemezov said, without giving figures.
