Russia Is Running Out of Armored Vehicles Due To Ukraine Losses

Russia's inventory of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, once considered inexhaustible, is beginning to look depleted.

Ukrainian frontline troops report seeing more old, Soviet-era equipment being used by Russian units and NATO observers with access to satellite photos reveal that storage areas in Russia are emptying. Which may help explain why Russian forces are attempting to score gains while they believe they still can. JL 

Defense Express reports:

The serious losses in equipment suffered during 2022-2023 and, especially, the losses during the battle for Avdiivka led to a situation where the bottom in the stocks of Russian armored personnel carriers and combat vehicles is beginning to show. Once considered inexhaustible, the most critical losses of Russian equipment in recent months are APCs and IFVs. There are entire segments of the frontline where Soviet-era T-55 and MT-LB are the main equipment of the attacking units, in particular where units from the Far East are. The increase in the use of equipment in the role of  combat vehicles not intended for this purpose indicates the inability of the Russians to compensate for losses suffered

One of the most critical categories of losses of Russian equipment in recent months is armored personnel carriers and IFVs. As in the situation with tanks, stocks of BTRs and BMPs in Russia were considered inexhaustible, in addition, the production of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) at the Kurgan plant continues

Nevertheless, the serious losses in equipment suffered during 2022-2023 and, especially, the losses during the battle for Avdiivka led to a situation where the bottom in the stocks of armored personnel carriers and combat vehicles is beginning to show.

The first alarming sign for the Russians was the active removal of the old BMP-1 from conservation in the summer of 2022. Before that, the last BMP-1 in the Russian army remained in service only in a few motorized rifle regiments in the Far East. OSINT researcher Richard Vereker's graph shows that losses on the front lines of the BMP-1 IFV began to outweigh the BMP-2 - the most common infantry fighting vehicle in the Russian army. In January-February 2024, a new stage of growth in BMP-1 losses and a decrease in BMP-2 losses is observed. At the same time, the increase in BMP-3 losses is due to the intensification of Russian offensive actions in the Ivanivske and Robotyne areas, where enemy units suffered losses in these BMPs.

rusian BMP IFVs losses in the infographics by WarSpotting.net

Another alarming sign for the Russian stockpile of equipment was the rapid increase in the use of the MT-LB as an infantry fighting vehicle. In the period from February 20 to March 7, according to the statistics of visually confirmed destroyed equipment maintained by researcher Andrew Perpetua, the Russians lost 63 MT-LB. At the same time, entire segments of the frontline appears where T-55, T-62 and MT-LB are the main equipment of the attacking units, in particular, this is the situation in the Novomykhailivka area, where units from the Far East are conducting offensive actions.

russian MT-LB tracked APC enforced by logs that were used like additional armor protection / Open source photo

In addition, russian troops are increasingly using Chinese Desertcross 1000-3 buggies right on the battlefield to transport infantry. Their active use in this untypical role was noticed in the Lyman, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson directions. Since the end of February, according to Andrew Perpetua, the destruction of 19 such buggies has already been confirmed. It should be understood that the infantry in this vehicles does not have any protection. Also, according to reports from the military, the enemy is also actively using ATVs during assault operations in the Robotyny region.

Despite the fact that the Chinese-made Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicles in the russian federation were positioned as rear transport, the enemy uses them in assaults

Obviously, the increase in the use of equipment in the role of armored personnel carriers and combat vehicles, which is not intended for this purpose, indicates the inability of the Russian military industry to compensate losses suffered in this war at the expense of its own production of equipment. Not enough new BMP-3s are produced, and the production of BMP-2s has not resumed. If once analysts and amateurs imagined the Russian army in 2024 with Armatas, Boomerangs and Kurganets in service, then in the war with Ukraine Russia has reached the point where the attack is conducting on MT-LB and Chinese buggies with the fire support of the T-55, not an Armata. Modern Russian armored vehicles will again solemnly pass in front of Putin at the parade on May 9 after his re-election, and Russian infantry will die next to the burning T-55.

Transportation of russian T-54 and T-55 tanks by rail / Open source photo

As Defense Express reported, russia's tank stocks were running out: more and more outdated equipment is being used by invaders against Ukraine. We also wrot, that russians started putting Kontakt-1 ERA on their Stalin Era T-54 tanks, but it doesn't help much.