Confirmed with images the loss of more than 1,000 Russian tanks in Ukraine

Russia made the serious mistake of believing that the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick military walk. Today it has reached a symbolic number of losses in that aggression.

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Ukraine shows its MiG-29 with the missile that is destroying Russian air defenses

They document the loss of 1,002 Russian tanks since February 24

The website Oryxspioenkop.com, which has been documenting the losses of this invasion with images, has announced this afternoon that its count of Russian tank losses has already exceeded the figure of 1,000 units. Specifically, it has managed to confirm with images the loss of 1,002 Russian tanks since the beginning of the invasion on February 24. This website has been collecting images published on social networks that show the losses of both sides, so the actual figures of losses will be higher than those that appear in their files.

Ukraine has captured a total of 289 Russian tanks

In his list of Russian losses, Oryxspioenkop.com notes that of those 1,002 tanks, 602 have been destroyed, 42 have been damaged, 51 have been abandoned and 289 have been captured by the Ukrainians, a figure that makes Russia the largest supplier (involuntary, yes) of tanks for the Ukrainian Army.

As for types, the hardest hit model was the T-72B, with 161 tanks lost, followed by the T-72B3 (141), the T-72B3 Obr. 2016 (129) and the T-80U (77). Among the losses are also some of the most modern battle tanks of the Russian Army, such as the T-90M (2 lost) and the T- 90A (20). In the loss lists there are 205 tanks whose model could not be confirmed.

Those losses account for 38.5% of the tanks of the Russian permanent army

Although some people tend to downplay the heavy Russian losses in the Ukraine, it must be remembered that Russia has a permanent army made up of 2,609 tanks, according to its Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE), so those 1,002 lost tanks represent 38.4% of its total armored fleet. This is a huge loss and it will be very difficult for Russia to compensate, especially due to the problems caused by Western sanctions on the Russian arms industry.

Likewise, there are already 5,415 military vehicles lost by Russia accredited by Oryxspioenkop.com, a figure that includes land, air and sea vehicles. Specifically, the list includes 52 planes, 49 helicopters, 122 drones, 11 ships and 3 logistics trains. These are disastrous figures, considering that Russia has barely been able to reach more than 100 km from its borders and that seven months have not yet passed since the beginning of the invasion.

Russia has lost in 6 months almost 7 times more tanks than the USSR in Afghanistan in 11 years

On its Twitter account, Oryxspioenkop.com published this afternoon the documented losses of Russian tanks in the latest wars in which Russia has taken part:

• First Chechen War (1994-1996): 193.
• Second Chechen War (1999-2009): 23.
• Russian invasion of Georgia (2008): 3.
• Russian invasion of Ukraine (2020): 1,002.

To these figures we could add that in the War in Afghanistan (1978-1989) the USSR lost 147 tanks (according to "The Soviet-Afghan War: Breaking the Hammer & Sickle", by Lester W. Grau and Ali Ahmad Jalali). Russia's losses in the Ukraine are almost seven times those Soviet losses in a war that lasted 11 years.

Ukraine has lost fewer tanks than it has managed to capture from the Russians

Likewise, Oryxspioenkop.com also publishes a list of Ukrainian losses, amounting to 1,543 vehicles, including 249 tanks, a figure lower than the number of Russian tanks captured by the Ukrainians. Of those 249, 133 have been destroyed, 5 damaged, 7 abandoned and 104 captured by the Russians or pro-Russian militias in the Donbass. Ukrainian losses also include 41 planes, 13 helicopters and 33 drones.

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Main photo: Ukraine Weapons Tracker. A destroyed Russian T-72B3(M) tank in Makariv, kyiv Oblast, Ukraine, in late March.