Russia continues to deploy 60+ tanks to Ukraine to compensate for invasion losses

The Russian military continued to respond to heavy armored vehicle losses with the deployment of 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanksaccording to the British Ministry of Defense intelligence report.

“There is a realistic possibility that even First Guards Tank Army units, supposedly Russia’s main tank force, to be re-equipped with T-62s to compensate for earlier lossesthe ministry said on Twitter on Monday.

The model is a Soviet design from the 1950s and produced from the 1960s, with a not very innovative structure, but it was the first to incorporate a smoothbore gun, which allowed it to fire guided missiles.

According to the British report, the Russian army was to receive the next-generation T-14 Armata MBT main battle tank from 2021.

“In recent days, Russian BTR-50 armored personnel carriers, first launched in 1954, have also been identified deployed in Ukraine for the first time,” noting that, since the summer of 2022, around 800 T-62s have been destocked.

Some received upgraded vision systems that could improve their effectiveness at night, the ministry said. But he warned of his weaknesses.

“However, both of these older vehicle types will have many vulnerabilities in the modern battlefield, including the lack of modern explosive reactive armour,” UK noted.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia has lost 3,423 tanks, 6,703 armored fighting vehicles, 5,307 vehicles and fuel tanks in Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.

The Russian offensive on the town of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, has shown signs of slowing down, and could have reached its “peak” of intensity without the Kremlin forces taking control of it. the city, he said. EFE Ukrainian military expert Serhiy Grabskiy.

“We have seen signs that the Russians have been forced to slow down their operations due to lack of personnel and ammunition,” said Grabskiy, a reserve colonel who has served in peacekeeping missions in Iraq and in the former Yugoslavia.

The ex-soldier referred to a video posted by the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in which he once again complained about the lack of ammunition and warned that “the whole front would collapse” if his private army was withdrawing from Bakhmut.

The colonel of the Ukrainian reserve stressed that this is the first time that Prigozhin – whose mercenaries lead the assault force attacking Bakhmut – refers to the possibility of a withdrawal, which he says would support the thesis that Russia is running out of resources. forces to support their offensive on the city of Donbass.

If this possibility is confirmed, Grabskiy added, “it is possible that Ukrainian forces will resist the Russian offensive for a few more days and then launch a counterattack, pushing the enemy back.” The Ukrainian military expert said he was optimistic that Ukrainian forces would resist and could “maintain their positions once they receive support and rotate”.

(With information from EFE)

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