The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) report “Military Balance” indicates that Russia has lost more than 3 000 tanks in Ukraine, equivalent to its pre-war active inventory, but still has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles to replace them. Similarly, Ukraine has suffered heavy losses, but with Western military assistance has been able to maintain stocks while improving their quality, on Tuesday, the 13th of February, reports Reuters.
Despite losing so many tanks, including 1 120 last year, Russia still has about twice as many combat-ready tanks as Ukraine, according to an IISS study.
Henry Boyd, the institute’s senior specialist on military capabilities, said Russia has made up for lost tanks by operating around 1 000 to 1 500 tanks last year. However, he said, no more than 200 of these were new, as most were refurbished older models.
“Moscow has managed to trade quality for quantity… withdrawing thousands of older tanks from storage at a rapid pace,” he said, adding that
with such a strategy Russia could keep the war going for about three more years
“regardless of its ability to produce new equipment”.
Ukraine faces difficult choices, the report said. According to the IISS report, Ukraine has sought to protect its youngest soldiers, with the average age of infantry soldiers being around 40 years. However, maintaining this strategy in the future while maintaining frontline numbers remains questionable, said Ben Barry, senior land warfare analyst at the IISS.
Ukraine, which failed to succeed in a counter-offensive last year and has just replaced its commander Valery Zaluzhnyi, also urgently needs new artillery stocks and air defence systems.
Given the losses suffered by both sides and the attritional nature of trench warfare, IISS experts have indicated that the current stalemate is likely to persist, pointing out that a large-scale offensive by either side would likely result in a significant number of casualties.
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