Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than 360 enemy main battle tanks and at least 700 armored combat vehicles since early October, when Russian forces in eastern Ukraine went on the attack after several months spent in defensive positions, British officials said.
While the Russian forces have achieved “minor territorial gains” since October, their industrial capability means they will likely have the resources to continue offensive activity for the foreseeable future, U.K. military officials said Monday on X in their latest assessment of the battlefield in Ukraine.
“Russia can probably generate at least 100 (main battle tanks) a month and therefore retains the capacity to replace battlefield losses,” British officials said.
From February 2022 to January 2024, Russian ground forces lost about 2,600 main battle tanks and 4,900 other armored vehicles in Ukraine. They lost about 40% fewer tanks and armored vehicles in 2023 than the year before, likely due to the “increasingly positional nature” of the fighting in 2023 and because Russia spent a significant proportion of the year in defensive positions, British officials said.