- Even conservative estimates suggest Russia has lost as many as 10,000 pieces of military hardware in Ukraine
- Analysts point to failure of Moscow’s tactics and Ukraine ‘outclassing’ Kremlin’s troops on the battlefield
Tuesday saw Vladimir Putin host Russia’s annual Victory Day parade to mark 78 years since the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.
But while recent years have seen ostentatious displays with dozens of the Kremlin’s most sophisticated pieces of military hardware rolling through Moscow’s famous Red Square, this year saw a significantly slimmed-down affair.
Some 8,000 troops took part in the parade – the lowest number since 2008. Even the procession in 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, featured some 13,000 soldiers, and last year, 11,000 troops took part.
What’s more, there was no fly-over of military jets, and – as opposed to the columns of T-90 and state-of-the-art T-14 Armata tanks paraded in previous years – a lonesome Second World War-era T-34 trundled over the central Moscow cobblestones.
The parade was still flanked by crowds of flag-waving nationalists eager to hear Putin praise his forces fighting in Ukraine. But it was impossible to miss the obvious: There was a distinct lack of military hardware on show.
Looking 500 miles south, where the Kremlin’s forces are currently stretched across a 600-mile-long front line in Ukraine, it is easy to understand why.
There, the Russian dictator’s forces have suffered losses that would have been unthinkable before he ordered his troops across the border on February 24, 2022.
Not only has Moscow lost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of soldiers, it has also seen Kyiv’s troops destroy thousands of Russian military vehicles including tanks, infantry transport vehicles, trucks, artillery, helicopters and jets.
While exact figures are unknown, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine estimates Russian hardware losses to be over 25,000. Even the most conservative estimates suggest the figure is over 10,000.
Russian military hardware losses
In the days leading up to Putin’s invasion, satellite images showed vast Russian forces massing on Ukraine’s borders. And with Moscow’s armies being at least three times the size of Kyiv’s, analysts feared the worst for the smaller nation.
The Kremlin launched an all-out assault in Ukraine’s north, south and east, and within a matter of days its forces were infiltrating the outskirts of Kyiv. Meanwhile, a vast 40-mile long column of armoured vehicles was snaking down towards the capital.
But as days stretched into weeks, and Kyiv continued to hold out, it became clear that Russia had made a miscalculation.
In those early stages, images began to appear online showing the burnt-out wrecks of tanks, armoured vehicles and military aircraft littering Ukraine’s fields and roads.
However, the vast majority did not belong to Ukraine.
Those who had predicted that Russia’s overwhelming numbers of tanks would stamp out Ukraine’s resistance were swiftly proven wrong, and Russian losses quickly mounted – and continue to rise to extraordinary levels today.
In its most recent update, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry reported 3,745 Russian tanks alone have been destroyed, on top of 7,295 eliminated armoured combat vehicles.
Adding to those figures, it says Russia has lost more than 3,000 artillery, more than 500 multiple launch rocket systems, over 300 air defence systems, 308 military jets, 294 helicopters and 2,636 drones.
Source: Dailymail
