Ukraine, Russia Brace for Major Tank Battles

  • Aishwarya Rakesh
  • Friday, February 10, 2023 @ 09:05 AM
  • 6050
Ukraine, Russia Brace for Major Tank Battles

Destroyed Russian tanks outside Kyiv @open sources

The coming months could see major tank battles between Ukraine and Russia as Kyiv has received or is expected to receive some 630+ tanks and 3500+ armored vehicles.

As the Ukraine War inches closer toward its one year mark, Defensemirror.com analyses the type and number of armored vehicles and tanks supplied to Ukraine and how they weigh up against similar fleet of Russia.

How have the tanks and armored vehicles fared in the ongoing war?

The Russian army and airborne forces began the war with 3,000 main battle tanks, while Ukraine had 982, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank.

On February 7, Russian defense ministry said its forces destroyed 7,700 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles.

Meanwhile, a Ukraine government report says it eliminated over 3,255 tanks and 2,250 armored vehicles used by the Russian forces. In addition, as per Oryx, an open source intelligence website, Russia has lost up to half of all its operational tank fleet in the war. The group said this week it has verified 1,000 distinct Russian tank losses in the war. It said a further 544 tanks had been captured by Ukrainian forces, 79 damaged and 65 abandoned.

“Russia started the war with around 3,000 operational tanks … so there is a good chance that Russia has lost one half of (its) usable tanks,” Jakub Janovsky, a military analyst who contributes to the Oryx blog, told CNN.

Janovsky said Moscow had about 4,000 tanks in reserve before the war began. “On paper, Russia still has a lot of tanks, but many were not properly stored and might be hard to reactivate quickly,” he added.

Even assuming they could all be brought into action, Moscow has still lost about 30% of its pre-war tank force, Janovsky said.

The total figure for Russia’s equipment losses – when infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles are added to the tanks – is almost 9,100, Oryx’s website says.

Similar equipment losses of Ukraine’s total 2,934, Oryx says.

Ukraine, Russia Brace for Major Tank Battles
Challenger 2 and Leopard tanks pledged to Ukraine by the U.K.

The U.S. and its allies have supplied or committed to supply the following tanks and armored vehicles to Ukraine. These foreign-made tanks are seen as having superior technology to the ones Russia is fielding.

Country

Tanks

Armored Vehicles

U.S.

Abrams  

T-72B

31

45

Bradley IFV

HMMWV

Stryker APC

LTV

M1117 ASV

MARP

109

1700

90

100

250

580

Total

76

2829

Canada

Leopard 2A4

4

-

Total

4

-

Czech Republic

T-72M1

Refurbished          T-72M1, T-55

T-72 Avenger

35

16

102

BMP-1

PbV-501

45

56

Total

153

101

France

-

-

AMX-10 RC, ACMAT Bastion APCs

VAB

30-40

 

60

Total

-

~100

Germany

Leopard 2

12

M113 APCs

54

Greece

-

-

BMP-1A1*

40

Lithuania

 

 

M113 APC

M577 AFV

50

**

Luxembourg

 

 

Humvee

28

Morocco

T-72B

20

 

 

Netherlands

T-72M1

45*

APCs and YPR-765s

**

North Macedonia

T-72A

8

 

 

Norway

 

 

Infantry mobility vehicles

Iveco LAV IIIs

**

 

14

Poland

T-72M, T-72M1(R), PT-91

260+

BWP-1

40

Portugal

 

 

Iveco LAVs

M113

4

14+14*

Slovakia

-

-

BVP-1

30

Slovenia

M-55S

28*

BVP M80A

35

South Korea

 

 

M113 APCs

20

Sweden

 

 

CV90

50

United Kingdom

Challenger 2

14

CVR(T)

FV104, FV106, FV107

Spartan

Mastiff, Wolfhound, Husky

40

 

*

 

35

80

Total

14

155

Grand total

630+

3,500+

* to be delivered                  ** figure unknown

Ukraine, Russia Brace for Major Tank Battles
Destroyed Russian T-90M tank @Ukraine MoD

Ukraine to get up to 178 European Leopard 1 Tanks

On February 7, Germany issued export licenses to companies to provide 178 Leopard 1 battle tanks to war-torn Ukraine. This coincided with a joint statement by the governments of Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark to pay for the preparation of “at least” 100 Leopard 1 copies for Kyiv, with delivery scheduled to take place “within the coming months.”

Russia preparing to welcome Western tanks in Ukraine

Yesterday, as you know, our enemy was begging for planes, missiles and tanks abroad. What should we do in response? It is clear that in this case it is natural for us to increase the production of various types of weapons and military equipment, including modern tanks," Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting during a visit to the Omsk transport engineering plant, as per TASS.

While inspecting the plant Medvedev saw, among other things, the T-80BVM tank - an upgraded version of the T-80BV. It boasts an improved 125-millimeter gun. The gas turbine engine’s power is up to 1,250 hp. Also, the tank has a multi-channel gunner sight, the driver's observation device and an armament stabilizer. The armor is reinforced with anti-cumulative lattice screens, as well as modular dynamic protection.

In addition, Russia is known for its anti-tank systems such as the Kornet and mobile short range anti-tank missiles.  In terms of drones, it has its own reconnaissance and attack UAVs and is said to be supplemented with Iranian Shahed drones.

Ukraine, Russia Brace for Major Tank Battles
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