Russia's infantry losses: Tanks to scooters on the battlefield
The threshold of 20,000 confirmed destroyed units of Russian military equipment, documented with photos or videos, has been crossed. As many as 5,466 and 3,704 units are infantry fighting vehicles and various types of tanks, respectively. Here's an overview of what the Russians have lost the most.
The list of destroyed military equipment during the war in Ukraine, maintained by the OSINT analyst group oryxspioenkop, now includes 20,000 entries. This differs from the Ukrainian claims of 117,000 pieces of equipment. However, it's worth noting that the Ukrainians include items such as cruise missiles and Shahed drones, along with civilian vehicles used by the Russians.
These two categories alone add up to 60,000 units. In contrast, the comparison regarding tanks (most eagerly counted by OSINT) is 3,708 vs. 9,844 units according to the Ukrainians, which is a very likely number because not all destroyed tanks are captured on recordings or photos.
The Russians most commonly lost this equipment — infantry relies on makeshift creations from the Mad Max universe
The Russians lost the most infantry fighting vehicles (5,366), trucks and other transport vehicles (probably underestimated at 3,798 units), tanks (3,708), and armoured personnel carriers (1,863).
In the case of infantry fighting vehicles tasked with bringing assault groups as close as possible to enemy positions in the company of tanks, Russia lost over 2,000 BMP-1/2, over 1,000 wheeled infantry vehicles BTR-82A, and over 600 of the latest BMP-3. These vehicles are heavily armed with a 30 mm 2A42 autocannon, except for the BMP-3, which also has a 100 mm cannon but is very lightly armoured.
In practice, the crew and the infantry are protected mainly by steel armour, about 25 mm from the front and about 13 mm to 15 mm on the sides. It only protects handheld firearms, and not always, and against artillery fragments. In contrast, Western IFVs, such as the CV90 or the M2A2 Bradley, have a layered armour structure reinforced with composites or reactive armour that even protects against single-charge warhead rounds.
The Russians most acutely feel the loss of vehicles from the BMP family because they cannot replace them. As a result, fewer armed transporters from the BTR-60/70 family or even antiques like the BTR-50 were used for attacks. Moreover, creations like "armoured barns" have emerged. These are often based on non-operational tanks with space for the infantry over the engine compartment, or civilian vehicles are used.
In recent months, there has been increased activity using UAZ Buchanka or Ladas, which are used not only for frontline logistics but also for assaults. However, this is not the end of the story; bicycles or electric scooters are even used when they are lacking.
