Russia has retained the capacity to replace battlefield losses in Ukraine as it can produce 100 main battle tanks per month, according to a recent UK Ministry of Defence intelligence report.
Posted on X (formerly Twitter), the report highlights Russia’s increasing tank loss rate since October 2023, when it shifted back to an offensive stance in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Ground Forces have reportedly lost 365 MBTs and 700 armored combat vehicles since then but only achieved minor territorial gains.
However, Moscow’s forces could continue to carry out a high level of offensive activity against Ukraine in the “foreseeable future” because of the increase in its industrial capacity.
The UK MoD report did not elaborate on how Russia managed to ramp up production amid biting international sanctions.
Current Attrition
In a previous intelligence report, the UK MoD claimed Russia had lost 2,475 main battle tanks (MBTs) from February 2022 to mid-November 2023.
The figures reportedly comprised around 15 percent of the country’s pre-war inventory.
But the ministry released the latest figures on Monday, which showed Moscow’s MBT losses had only slightly increased to 2,600 as of January 25, 2024.
So Ukraine was only able to neutralize 125 Russian MBTs over the past 10 weeks, making the current attrition rate 12 tanks per week.
New Tanks Inducted
Russia’s ability to quickly replenish battlefield losses in Ukraine was seemingly confirmed by its defense ministry earlier this year, announcing that it had inducted 1,500 tanks in 2023.
It also boasted that the country’s current tank sufficiency level is over 84 percent.
However, the ministry did not specify the types of the newly-inducted tanks or whether they are new models.