Russia curbs armored vehicle use as reserves dwindle
Russia is reducing its use of armored vehicles in Ukraine due to shrinking Soviet-era reserves. According to ISW, at the current rate of losses, these resources will be depleted before the end of 2026.
The Russian armed forces in Ukraine are limiting the use of armored vehicles to conserve equipment in light of decreasing Soviet-era reserves. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), at the current rate of losses, the Russians may deplete these resources before the end of 2026.
Ukrainian military sources have noted that Russians are using fewer armored vehicles and conducting fewer mechanized attacks towards the city of Kurakhove. This is because the invading troops lost many units of this equipment in October and November 2024, ISW reported.
Russian forces have switched to using infantry to conduct assaults on this front section. Armored vehicles are used solely as fire support for infantry attacks, highlighted the Institute, citing sources in the Ukrainian army.
The state of Russian reserves
The British International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reported in February 2024 that Russia could likely sustain such a high level of armored vehicle losses for two or three years, at most until early 2027, mainly due to the refurbishment of vehicles from Soviet-era storage.
Sources analyzing satellite images provided an updated assessment at the end of December last year regarding the state of Russian tank and armored vehicle storage. According to these reports, the Russian army holds 47% of its pre-war tank reserves and 52% of its combat vehicle reserves, ISW noted.
It seems increasingly unrealistic that the Russian military will be able to maintain the current annual loss rate of nearly 9,000 armored vehicles until 2025. This rate is almost three times higher than the annual loss rate in the first two years of the war, suggesting that the IISS estimates from 2024 are already outdated, summarized the Washington think tank.
Satellite images show that equipment resources stored in places like Bui in the Kostroma region have significantly decreased. As a result, Russians are forced to use increasingly older equipment and improvised solutions. Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, are trying to make use of captured equipment.
In a recent post on X, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reported that, according to their accounts, over 6,000 Russian tanks have been eliminated since the beginning of the war.
