Russia's military has taken more than 40 percent of its mothballed, Soviet-era armored vehicles and tanks from its largest storage facility, according to a new report from Russian independent media.
In September 2021, Russia's armed forces had around 3,840 armored vehicles stored at its Vagzhanovo depot in Russia's Siberian republic of Buryatia, according to The Moscow Times. In May 2023, just 2,270 remained at the storage facility, the publication said, citing Google Earth image analysis.
Almost a third of the vehicles sitting at the Siberian military base were removed following the Kremlin's announcement of partial mobilization in September 2022, the outlet reported. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
The war in Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on Russia's military vehicle stocks, with experts suggesting many tanks and armored vehicles were unnecessarily abandoned in the initial phases of the war.
According to statistics published by Kyiv on Tuesday, Russia has lost 4,254 tanks and 8,278 armored personnel vehicles since February 24, 2022, when Moscow launched its invasion.
When Kyiv's tally reached 4,000 tanks lost for Moscow in mid-June, experts told Newsweek this figure—which was likely accurate—probably included mothballed Soviet-era tanks, and some armored vehicles, as well as main battle tanks.
Reports and analysts had previously suggested Moscow had resorted to pulling Soviet-era tanks, like the T-54 and T-55, from storage. Experts said these tanks would be far less effective against Ukrainian troops than newer, more advanced and better maintained military vehicles. In June 2023, reports said Russian forces had used these mothballed tanks as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.
Referencing these reports, the British Ministry of Defence said the Kremlin's fighters were using "antiquated armored vehicles packed with several tonnes of explosives," largely in Ukraine's contested eastern Donetsk region. Some of the Soviet tanks and armored vehicle stocks will have been cannibalized as well as deployed, analysts added.
In February 2023, the International Institute of Strategic Studies estimated that Russia's military had lost around 40 percent of its pre-war tank stocks following nine months of fighting in Ukraine.
During a visit to a tank factory in early February, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow needed to "increase production of various armaments including modern tanks."
As Ukraine's summer counteroffensive got underway in early June, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to admit that his military had lost 54 tanks in less than two weeks.
Ukraine's tank fleet is thought to have been boosted by the capture of Russian tanks, donations of Soviet-era tanks from former Warsaw Pact members and the arrival of Western-made main battle tanks like the Leopard 2 and Challenger 2.
Ukraine has lost a total of 602 tanks, 304 armored fighting vehicles and 682 infantry fighting vehicles, according to Dutch open-source intelligence outlet Oryx, which catalogs visually-confirmed losses. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had lost 11,185 tanks and other armored combat vehicles since February 2022.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
