Putin sends previously mothballed T-62 tanks into Ukraine war

Vladimir Putin is sending previously mothballed 50-year-old T-62 tanks into Ukraine after losing nearly 1,000 of the heavily armoured vehicles, say western defence chiefs.

They stressed that the T-62 tanks had been taken out of “deep storage” to be deployed into southern Ukraine where Russian troops are seeking to occupy seized territory.

But the ageing vehicles are expected to be “particularly vulnerable” to anti-tank weapons.

The decision to deploy them was said to highlight “Russia’s shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment”.

However, Mr Putin’s forces are gaining some ground in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after unleashing huge numbers of troops and equipment into attacks.

In its latest intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence in London said: “Russian ground forces continue their attempt to surround Severodonetsk and Lyschansk, recently capturing several villages north-west of Popasna.

“Russia is pressuring the Severodonetsk pocket although Ukraine retains control of multiple defended sectors, denying Russia full control of the Donbas.”

It added: “Russia’s Southern Grouping of Forces (SGF) likely remains tasked with occupying southern Ukrainian territory. In recent days, Russia has likely moved 50-year-old T-62 tanks from deep storage into the SGF’s area of responsibility.

“The T-62s will almost certainly be particularly vulnerable to anti-tank weapons and their presence on the battlefield highlights Russia’s shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment.”

Earlier, a senior defence official in Washington said Mr Putin’s military had lost nearly 1,000 tanks, more than 350 artillery pieces, more than 30 fighter bomber fixed-wing aircraft and at least 50 helicopters since the invasion started on February 24.

But the Russian army is still believed to have superior numbers of troops and equipment and these are being deployed to gradually push back Ukrainian forces after heavy artillery bombardments.

Britain and other nations in the West are engaged in an information war with Russia over what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.

Russian forces came closer to surrounding Ukrainian troops in the east, briefly seizing positions on the last highway out of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-held cities before being beaten back, according to a Ukrainian official.

Three months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has abandoned its assault on the capital Kyiv and is trying to consolidate control of the industrial eastern Donbas region, where it has backed a separatist revolt since 2014.

Thousands of troops are attacking from three sides to try to encircle Ukrainian forces in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. If the two cities straddling the Siverskiy Donets river fall, nearly all of the Donbas province of Luhansk would be under Russian control.

“Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can,” said General Oleksiy Gromov, deputy chief of the main operations department of Ukraine’s general staff.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said around 50 Russian soldiers had reached the highway and “managed to gain a foothold”, even setting up a checkpoint.

“The checkpoint was broken, they were thrown back ... the Russian army does not control the route now, but they are shelling it,” he said. It was possible Ukrainian troops would leave “one settlement, maybe two. We need to win the war, not the battle,” he said.

“It is clear that our boys are slowly retreating to more fortified positions - we need to hold back this horde,” Mr Gaidai added.

Ukraine’s military said 50 towns in Donetsk and Luhansk came under shelling on Thursday, with nine civilians killed.

Western military analysts see the battle for the two cities as a potential turning point in the war, now that Russia has redefined its principal objective as capturing the east.

Further south, Russian troops are also reported to be gaining ground in Svitlodarsk, where Ukrainian forces withdrew earlier this week.

The town is now firmly under control of pro-Russian fighters, who have occupied the local government building and hung a Soviet hammer and sickle flag at the door.

Russia’s recent gains in the Donbas follow the surrender of Ukraine’s garrison in Mariupol last week, and suggest a shift in momentum after weeks in which Ukrainian forces had advanced near Kharkiv in the northeast.

“Recent Russian gains offer a sobering check on expectations for the near term,” tweeted defence analyst Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at the US-based CNA think-tank.

Russian troops have broken through Ukrainian lines at Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk, and are threatening to encircle Ukrainian forces, he wrote.

Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denisenko told a briefing 25 Russian battalions were attempting to surround the Ukrainian forces.

In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged stronger Western action against Russia to stop the war.

“The catastrophic unfolding events could still be stopped if the world treated the situation in Ukraine as if it were facing the same situation, if the powers that be did not play around with Russia but really pressed to end the war,” he said.

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, called on Telegram for more Western arms, particularly “weapons that will allow us to hit the enemy at a big distance”.

Britain, the US and other western nations are sending heavier military equipment to Ukraine, though Germany has been accused of dragging its feet over despatching tanks.

Washington is even considering providing Ukraine with a rocket system that can have a range of hundreds of miles, and has held discussions with Kyiv about the danger of escalation if it strikes deep inside Russia, say US and diplomatic officials.

“We have concerns about escalation and yet still do not want to put geographic limits or tie their hands too much with the stuff we’re giving them,” said one US official.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said during a question and answer session over Twitter that “without multiple launch rocket systems, we won’t be able to push them back.”

He added that if Russia were to request a ceasefire, “we will think twice, three times before agreeing to it”.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, later warned that any supplies of weapons that could reach Russian territory would be a “a serious step towards unacceptable escalation”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow expects Ukraine to accept its demands at any future peace talks. It wants Kyiv to recognise Russian sovereignty over the Crimea peninsula Moscow seized in 2014, and the independence of separatist-claimed territory.

A few weeks ago, it was Ukrainian forces that were advancing, pushing Russian troops back from the outskirts of Kharkiv towards the Russian border.

But Moscow appears to have halted its retreat there, retaining a strip of territory along the frontier and preventing Ukrainian troops from cutting Russian supply lines that run east of the city to the Donbas.

Russian shelling killed at least nine civilians, including a five-month-old infant, and wounded 17 in Kharkiv, Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said, as Russian forces dug in and maintained control of positions in villages to the north.

“It’s loud here but it’s home at least,” said Maryna Karabierova, 38, as another blast could be heard nearby. She had returned to Kharkiv after fleeing to Poland and Germany earlier in the war. “It can happen at any time, at night, during the day: this is what life is here.”

Russia did not immediately comment on the situation in Kharkiv. It has denied targeting civilians in what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.