Russian propaganda overstates Ukraine's Western weapon losses

Russian propaganda is thrilled with the destruction of every Western tank. Kremlin trolls quickly latch onto every narrative in the media about the supposedly poor and overrated American Abrams, German Leopards, Polish Krabs, and unreliable F-16 fighters. They highlight the excellent quality of their own equipment.

While trolls and tabloid media focus on the alleged weakness of Western equipment, which supposedly stands no chance against the latest Russian technology, the statements from their experts reveal a complex about the weapons used by Ukraine and a disdain for its soldiers. This becomes the main weapon of propaganda.

"The Abrams proved tough not only for the Russian army but also for Ukrainian tank crews, who never got used to the 'miracle technology'," wrote Viktor Sokirko.

"Western equipment, which the Ukrainian army spoke so enthusiastically about, turned out to be a foreign body in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," wrote military expert Borys Dziereliewski. "There were many instances where Ukrainian fighters simply abandoned unused Javelins and Stingers, not understanding which way to point 'that thing'," he added.

Propagandists agree on one thing - Russian soldiers systematically destroy Western equipment. Only the reasons for the losses differ.

Ukraine received 31 Abrams M1A1 SA tanks from the United States. These are not the newest versions but models that are several years old. Even older are the Leopard tanks provided by European allies. Ukrainians received 40 Leopard 2A4s, as well as 21 in the 2A6 version and ten of the Swedish version, Stridsvagn 122.

Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine lost at least 20 Abrams and 50 Leopards. According to Kremlin trolls, all were simply destroyed.

The truth, however, is somewhat different. War losses are divided into irrecoverable and recoverable. In the latter case, it involves the time needed for evacuation and repair of vehicles.

In reality, of the 14 Abrams destroyed, damaged, and abandoned by Russia, only five were irrecoverably lost, including one that was completely burned and captured and transported to Moscow. Nine Abrams were damaged and abandoned, meaning that after being evacuated from the battlefield and subsequently repaired, they can return to front-line units.

Ukraine lost about 40 Leopards, of which only 1/3 were irrecoverable. The remaining damaged vehicles were repaired and have already returned to the front.

This does not stop the Kremlin from claiming that the Russian army destroyed significantly more, which is not unusual during wars. This raises the morale of their own society. This was the case, for example, during the Battle of Britain, when Allied pilots were credited with about 30% more shootdowns than actually occurred. On September 15, 1940, the actual number was exaggerated by more than 50%.

However, this is still a relatively small exaggeration. During the Battle of Kursk, the Soviets claimed to shoot down 1500% more aircraft than the Germans they fought actually lost. Current Russian propaganda is not yet that creative. The losses among Ukrainian F-16s were exaggerated by only 60%.

The first F-16 was allegedly shot down by the Russians over Bakhmut in May 2023, more than a year before these fighters actually appeared in Ukrainian skies. In December, another was supposedly downed. Shortly after, Kremlin experts claimed that shooting down all transferred aircraft was only a matter of time. So far, they have not succeeded, and the only loss occurred without the enemy's involvement.

For this reason, Russians must ‘down’ fighters at least in exaggerated reports. They use real photos of aircraft incidents. In May 2023, a photograph of a Thai F-16, which skidded off the runway in 2015 due to pilot error, was used for this purpose.

Recently, the Russian embassy in South Africa used a photo of a plane destroyed in a 2019 accident in California. Russian propagandists simply pasted the Ukrainian coat of arms on the vertical stabilizer using graphic software. However, their lie was quickly uncovered.

Russian propaganda is quite accurate in one aspect – Ukrainian soldiers are insufficiently trained, and the actual losses of Western arms resulted primarily from adopting flawed tactics.

In the first case, this caused the loss of Leopards during last year’s counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia. In the second, the loss of Abrams, which were abandoned by inexperienced crews in Donbas. Or rather, crews that previously had experience, but with Soviet-made tanks, where crew survivability was not a priority.

This likely stems from the experiences of tankers who previously served on tanks unable to withstand even slightly stronger fire. This led to crews often abandoning equipment out of fear for their lives, even in the event of a single hit. For this reason, it can be assumed that Ukraine will lose a few more Leopards or Abrams in a similar fashion.

Slawek Zagorski for Wirtualna Polska