Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in Ukraine and in storage they have do have enough less quality armoured Cold War vehicles that have been in storage that will provide many years of replacements.
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its annual “Military Balance” report that Russia is “pulling thousands” of old tanks from storage for Ukraine.
This means that potentially the war could last for “around three more years” which will put an even greater strain on NATO and allies to support Kyiv with military aid packages.
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The London based think tank said in their 2024 report, “Moscow has been able to trade quality for quantity… by pulling thousands of older tanks out of storage at a rate that may, at times, have reached 90 tanks per month.”
The IISS warned that this means Russia could “potentially sustain around three more years of heavy losses and replenish tanks from stocks, even if at lower-technical standard, irrespective of its ability to produce new equipment.”
According to the report Moscow has some 1,750 active main battle tanks (MBTs) some are modern and the others are from the Cold War era and the IISS said there is around 4,000 more in storage.
The Russian tanks range from T-55s which are decades old to the more modern T-80s and T-90s and according to the IISS report that “The situation underscored a growing feeling of a stalemate in the fighting that may persist through 2024.”
Ukraine has also suffered heavy tank losses, but Western aid has allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality.
The Military Balance said the situation now underscores a “growing feeling of a stalemate in the fighting that may persist through 2024.”
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report in January Russian factories can build around 1,200 tank per year, they can deliver 683 cruise missiles and over 215,000 unguided missiles and aerial bombs.
