Russia can keep bleeding tanks and other equipment like it has been in Ukraine for at least another 2 to 3 more years, war analysts say
Russia can sustain its current equipment-loss rates for two to three more years, a new analysis says.
But some of its stored equipment isn't necessarily of the same quality as the systems lost in battle.
Ukraine has kept up its arsenal, but some of its units don't have enough equipment, the report says.
Russia is making enough new tanks, fighting vehicles, and other equipment and has enough in storage to sustain its huge losses in Ukraine for at least two to three more years, a new analysis says.
"Despite losing hundreds of armoured vehicles and artillery pieces per month on average, Russia has been able to keep its active inventory numbers stable," the International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded in a Monday report.
Using aerial imagery, the London think tank determined that Russia had at least 12 artillery-storage bases, 10 central tank reserve bases, and at least 37 mixed equipment- and armaments-storage bases. The exact number of weapons stored that require restoration and activation for use is unclear, though.
The new report said Russia was capable of efficiently replacing its losses through production and its storage and reserve capacity, with an IISS assessment last year finding that "equipment replenishments were roughly keeping pace with battlefield attrition."
The UK Ministry of Defense reported that Russia was capable of producing 100 new tanks a month, but warfare experts recently told Business Insider the new tanks being manufactured were most likely older models.
Russia has lost thousands of armored vehicles since last February, and it suffered immense losses on the front lines around Avdiivka in the fall of last year. The country has been replenishing equipment losses, as well as manpower losses, but in this war, it has at times resorted to using older armored vehicles, such as T-62s and even T-55s.
The IISS acknowledged that the situation for Ukraine was murky but said it believed the country's arsenal of main battle tanks was around pre-war levels, while Western provisions had increased the availability of some other armored vehicles.
The country has also been able to use many of the Russian tanks it has captured.
But the IISS reported that Ukraine's efforts to put additional combat elements in the field had been hindered by insufficient supplies, adding that these problems had been "leaving some units lacking equipment to be even close to full strength."
US aid for Ukraine has been stalled in Congress for weeks, and if the support continues to be withheld, greater strain could end up being placed on the Ukrainian military.
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