Russia has had to resort to using 50-year-old Cold War-era tanks after losing over 3,000 of the vehicles since 2022, new estimates have said.

Putin’s forces have lost more than 3,000 tanks and 2,000 other armoured vehicles since the beginning of the war in Ukraine – a total of 5,500, new figures from UK military think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) say.

IISS Director General Dr Bastian Giegerich said the war – which has seen Russia lose over 1,000 tanks in the last year alone – has “exposed fissures” in their armed forces.

Dr Giegerich continued: “Russia's battlefield tank losses are greater than the number it had when it launched its offensive in 2022.

Reports say Putin's Russia had been sending 40-year-old T-62 tanks like this one to the front lines

Social Media/Reuters

“Moscow has been able to replenish, but the vehicles that emerge from Russia's production facilities are in most cases, not new.”

His quotes follow widespread reports that Russia had been repurposing 40-year-old T-62 tanks – themselves slightly upgraded versions of 1960s stock – and sending them to the front lines.

The war has been a sinkhole for weaponry on both sides, with attritional battles raging on for years in ‘meat-grinders’ like Bakhmut with little sign of attacking or defensive progress.

As a result, Putin has had to trade “quality for quantity”, Dr Giegerich said, as Moscow continues to funnel ever-older resources into the fight.

Ukraine is littered with destroyed Russian tanks, like this one in Trostianets

Reuters

The depletion in Russian tank stockpiles could set the clock ticking for Russia’s army, with one ex-military source suggesting the country may only have two to three years’ worth of resources.

As the war rages on, statistics can often be murky, but Ukraine says Russia has lost a shocking 400,000 soldiers, 24 ships and boats, and 657 aircraft.