It has lost 2,500 tanks and at best can produce 200 tanks a year.” He added: “Last year it fired 10 million artillery shells but at best can produce 1 million shells a year. The actual number of Russian tank losses in Ukraine is a Kremlin military secret, as is Russian industry’s capacity to replace them.īut the latest data on Russian tank numbers roughly tally with recent comments made by the UK’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Tony Radakin, earlier this week who told the British parliament that Moscow “has lost nearly half the combat effectiveness of its army.” Meanwhile, there are no reliable sources for the numbers of new tanks built by Russia, nor how many they have brought out of storage. Washington’s reported promise on 24 February to deliver a significant number of its own Abrams tanks appears to have broken the deadlock.Īn official US announcement on delivering Abrams is expected in the coming days.The figures should be treated with a degree of caution – the numbers from Oryx likely underestimate losses on both sides as they only use independently-confirmed information, usually open-source photographs of a destroyed or captured Russian tank, to register a loss.Ī destroyed Russian tank is photographed in the town of Svyatogirsk, Donetsk region on March 1. Germany has tried to tie the supply of Leopards to a wider coalition that would supply other tanks, including US Abrams – a tank viewed by experts as being less suitable for the war in Ukraine because of its heavy consumption of fuel. The supply of main battle tanks had been seen as problematic because of their much more obviously offensive capabilities.
It prefers a multilateral approach on arms supply to Ukraine rather than being seen to be moving unilaterally.Īlthough Germany has supplied a large amount of equipment to Ukraine, including armoured cars, it has also been wrestling with its post-second world war tradition of anti-militarism.
Germany’s position on sending heavy weaponry has been conflicted. Chart of Leopard 2 inventories of European and Nato countries Why the delay?
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