War a military failure for Russia, Ukraine's tank count rising: Think tank

Russia, which has one of the largest military forces in the world, has got some harsh estimations thrown up at it by a new think tank report. International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) has made an estimation that in the first nine months of Russia's war on Ukraine there has been a substantial decrease in the Russian army's fleets of tanks. How much loss are we talking about? According to the think tank, Moscow may just have lost about 40 per cent of its prewar fleet of tanks.

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The estimations were made mostly with the aid of images taken by drones, and satellites from the battlefield from February through November end. However, these are only estimations and cannot be relied upon completely. The think tank went on to say that because of this significant dearth of tanks which is estimated to have gone for up to 50 per cent for few key tanks, Russia is now forced to use its cold war-era weaponry.

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In contrast, the think tank said that Ukraine’s tank numbers are estimated to have increased. The reason for this increase is Kyiv's capture of Soviet-era tanks as well as aid received from western allies.John Chipman, the chair of the think tank called the war “a political and military failure for Russia." He said that this is a leadership issue compounded by deficiencies in Moscow's munitions. Chipman also noted that all this transpired even after Kremlin's modernisation efforts.

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While launching the think tank's annual Military Balance audit of the world’s armed forces, he said, “Russia’s actions over the past year have raised questions not only over the competence of its military and senior military leadership, but also over command cohesion."

As per the think tank, Russia’s number of tanks in its army may have reduced by 38 per cent from 2,927 to 1,800. Additionally, there may have been heavy losses of its workhorse T-72B3 which is an upgrade to the battle tanks which was in use in 2013.

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Despite the losses, the think tank said that Russia still has about 5,000 old tanks in long-term storage and the country with the help of these tanks still has strategic advances. Ukraine, on the other hand, seems to have accentuated in its tank count. Ukraine's tanks have gone up to 953 from 858. Kyiv is estimated to have captured an estimated of 500 tanks from Russia.

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