Ukraine and Russia’s tank numbers are now roughly equal to one another’s, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Oryx open-source analysis website.
The figures underscore the extent to which Russia’s advantage in heavy weapons has been reduced since it sent troops into Ukraine over 16 months ago.
According to the Kiel Institute’s Ukraine Support Tracker, Russia has lost over 2,000 of the 3,417 tanks which it used to invade Ukraine in February 2022.
Oryx estimates that the Russian army now has about 1,400 tanks remaining.
Ukraine in comparison has lost 550 of the 987 tanks it had at the start of the invasion and has managed to capture 545 Russian tanks, according to Oryx. Western allies have transferred 471 tanks to Kyiv, with an additional 286 expected to arrive soon.
In total, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are estimated to have approximately 1,500 tanks.
Yohann Michel, a land warfare specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told Bloomberg that despite having equal tank numbers, Ukraine will still struggle in its counteroffensive against Russia.
“The problem is that Ukraine now needs to regain territory, so it’s on the offensive against well-prepared defenses and for that you need a strong advantage,” Michel said.
Bloomberg also noted that there may be inaccuracies in the reported data due to the fact that actual tank losses are classified as state secrets by both Russia and Ukraine.
There is also a lack of information regarding the number of replaced tanks and artillery pieces.
