Ukraine’s counteroffensive is delivering big gains in territory—plus a large number of Russian military vehicles that are set to be used against the invaders.
Since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, open-source tracker Oryx has been keeping tabs on Russian equipment. It monitors how many vehicles have been destroyed or seized, verifying this with photo or video evidence.
Citing Oryx, Ukrainian news outlet TSN said Kyiv’s forces had captured 388 pieces of Russian equipment between September 7 and 11. Of this total, 200 “are in good condition.”
The Russian losses in that period include 49 T-72 tanks, 24 armored personnel carriers, 32 artillery vehicles and multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), and two planes.
According to the latest Oryx update, Russia has lost 5,122 tanks in total during the conflict. Of these, 4071 have been destroyed, 51 abandoned, 44 damaged and 356 captured.
In total, Russia has lost 16,049 pieces of military equipment in the war. More than half of these (8,768) have been destroyed.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry and Oryx for comment.
The equipment will provide another boost to Kyiv’s troops after Russian forces surrendered more than 3,100 square miles to their advance in around a week. Foreign Policy magazine has cited a Ukrainian military official as saying the seized equipment will be used against the Kremlin’s fighters.
“They just left their tanks, artillery, special equipment, a lot of armor, and were just trying to save their lives,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They will be used against Russia.”
Since the counteroffensive began, a number of images have been shared on social media of Ukrainian soldiers posing in front of captured Russian tanks in Kharkiv.
These images come as Ukraine renews calls for the U.S and its European allies to send tanks. Modern NATO-grade main battle tanks, such as the M1 Abrams or the German Leopard, are high on Kyiv’s wishlist, according to Foreign Policy.
Kyiv has criticized Berlin for rejecting its request for tanks, although Germany has delivered howitzers and self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons.
Gustav Gressel, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, has said Soviet-era T-72 tanks are playing an important role in Ukraine’s counteroffensive and that Poland has backfilled Kyiv’s forces, with deliveries also coming from Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
However, in emailed comments to Newsweek, Gressel said: “Ukraine will have to transition to Western tanks one way or the other,” adding that there was an abundance of Leopard 2 tanks that “could be delivered after a relatively short overhaul.”
He said crews in a Leopard 2 had a better chance of surviving a hit than troops in the T-72. With the war seven months old, he added, experienced tank crews and commanders were “increasingly rare on both sides.”
“Using the Leopard 2 to equip Ukrainian armed forces would allow relatively fast supplies of significant quantities of tanks,” Gressel said.
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