Russia has been destocking Soviet-era tanks from the 1940s and 1950s for its war in Ukraine, according to researchers at the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), in the latest sign the invasion is faltering.
The weapons, T-54 tanks and either late T-54 or early T-55 tanks, will be sent west in a train from Russia’s Far East, according to photos shared by the CIT on Wednesday. Trains depart from the 1295th Central Tank Repair and Storage Base in Arsenyev, in the Primorsky Krai of Russia.
The apparent attempt to rely on outdated tanks comes as Moscow scrambles to replace thousands of weapons lost on the battlefield a year into the war. Russia has been drawing on its stockpiles of old equipment and weapons for months, trying to rearm troops with weapons that could help them capture more territory in Ukraine. But the available artillery Russia has in stock isn’t enough — and could only mean more trouble for Moscow’s war effort, according to open-source intelligence site Oryx.
While the addition of other tanks, even older versions like the T-54 and T-55 tanks, may help somewhat given Moscow’s dramatic losses, there are some serious shortcomings in the older tanks that may not please Russian troops much do.
“We consider the lack of rangefinders and ballistic computers (not to mention fire control systems) to be the main disadvantages of these series, as well as primitive sights and (in the case of the T-54) an inferior gun stabilization system,” the CIT said. “This clearly indicates serious problems with the supply of military vehicles in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”
The T-54 and T-55 aren’t the only problems Russia has with tanks. Russian soldiers have struggled since the early days of the war with the so-called “jack-in-the-box effect” of Russian tanks, where the upper parts of the tanks can easily explode due to the way ammunition is stowed away. Russian tanks have been like this since the Gulf Wars, and although the tanks have been updated since then, their ammo loading system hasn’t changed, CNN reported.
Russia’s need for tanks seems to be growing day by day. In total, Moscow has lost over 1,800 tanks since the invasion began last year, according to Oryx. According to the Ukrainian General Staff of Armed Forces, 3,557 Russian tanks have been lost since the war began.
In just the last 24 hours, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed a Russian tank, as well as two units of armored vehicles, two reconnaissance drones and an ammunition depot on the Kinburn Spit in Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, head of the United Coordinating Press Center of the Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, said.
“The Russian army has already reached the point where it is no longer able to replace lost equipment with armor at least approximately equal to the combat value of the lost equipment,” Oryx said on Wednesday.
Part of the problem is that Russia’s manufacture and preparation of other tanks is not going well, according to a recent British intelligence assessment.
The plan to develop T-14 Armata tanks has encountered “delays” along with “reductions in planned fleet size and reports of manufacturing problems,” the British government said in an intelligence assessment released in January. As of January, production of the tanks was likely in the low teens, the intelligence report said.
There are signs that Russia’s defense ministry is snooping around to also deliver other obsolete equipment to the front lines. Russia has reportedly taken out of storage in recent weeks old BTR-50s, armored personnel carriers built between the 1950s and 1970s. Russia has also retrieved old T-62 tanks from 1961.
As Moscow continues to send personnel to Ukraine, it is likely to continue to rely on old stockpiles of equipment to fill gaps in supplies, which could further hamper its war effort, Oryx estimated.
“In order to keep supplying its newly drafted or recruited forces, the Russian Defense Ministry will no doubt be forced to look into even more forgotten corners of military storage depots to prevent its army’s equipment from running out,” Oryx said. “The resulting decline in combat efficiency is likely to accelerate as poor equipment and complicated logistics lead to a surge in casualties, the need for additional weapons increases again, and consequently the need to reactivate even more obscure remnants of the Soviet spirit is exacerbated.”