Well there is a lot of preparation for something going on.
Russia has been massively expanding its military to the point that they are modernizing T-62s with thermals to give to regular units. This is not because of losses in Ukraine. T-90M losses in Ukraine are low as per Oryx with Russia replacing three years of T-90M losses in 2-3 months in 2024. Russia produced 20-30 T-90Ms per month in 2024 which is 240 to 360 in a year (more tanks than the amount Germany has in its entire military). This likely has doubled or even quadrupled since then.
People severely underestimate the size of Uralvagonzavod. It is the largest tank factory in the world. Here it is superimposed over Washington DC and US tank factories:
Russia had 2.650 T-72B3s and T-72BAs in active service at the start of the war. They have only lost 790 since the start of the war as per Oryx. This leaves them with almost 2,000 T-72B3s and T-72BAs. This combined with old T-72Bs being modernized since the start of the war means Russia likely has well over 2,000 T-72s in active service.
This is already more tanks than the amount the US has in active service (around 1,600, Wikipedia states 2,600 but this is incorrect as the amount of Armoured BCTs got decreased).
Russia had around 300 T-90Ms at the start of 2024. Accounting for losses, they had 500-620 at the end of the year. By the end of this year, they will have 700-920 assuming losses and production stays the same.
Around a thousand T-62s have left storage since the start of the war. Most have been modernized.
This means Russia will have almost 4,000 tanks by the end of this year assuming production of T-90Ms did not increase since 2024 which I doubt.
The T-90M and T-72B3 are comparable to western tanks. The modernized T-62s are nowhere near as good as western tanks but will still be a major threat due to their large numbers.
We also know Russia is massively expanding its army because they have been establishing new units.
People forget that most of the Russian Armed Forces is not taking part in the Special Military Operation. The majority of soldiers in Ukraine are from irregular volunteer formations not from regular Russian military units. This is well shown by the losses.
Motorized Rifles: 6,457
VDV: 3,257
Naval Infantry: 1,305
Tank Crew: 1,806
Artillery: 851
Special Forces: 736
Engineering: 291
Navy: 291
VVS: 265
Other: 957
Total: 16,216
Source: MediaZona
This shows that the losses of Russian regulars is actually quite low. Including irregulars, the losses would be almost one hundred thousand as per the same source. This shows that Russia is mostly using irregulars.
Why is Russia trying to expand their military to such a high degree? No clue but something is on Putin’s mind.
Fog of war ? Did you see these ?
The total combat losses of the enemy (russia) from (…)
2022 feb 24 to 2025 Mar. 27
https://lemmy.world/post/27444482
personnel 908890 tanks 10438
troop carrying AFV 21701
artillery systems 25265
MLRS 1343
anti aircraft systems 1118
aircrafts 370
helicopters 335
UAV 30926
cruise missiles 3121
boats 28
submarine 1
vehicles & fuel tanks 42070
special equipment 3787
if your sources diverge, please choose only one of these numbers, the best established one, (# of lost tanks ?) with a different source (only one souce) for comparison.
Ukrainian MOD is hardly reliable. Russia doesn’t even have 10K tanks.
MediaZona and Oryx meanwhile require actual evidence for their numbers.
Russian material losses are very well documented so I don’t see them being significantly higher. Oryx states that Russia has lost around 3K tanks. This is far more realistic. These are mostly old tanks which makes sense as the majority of forces in the SMO are irregulars. Less than 800 of those losses are T-72B3s or T-72BAs.
MediaZona’s estimate for Russian losses is 150K including unconfirmed losses using excess male deaths which about 50% higher than the 100K deaths they have confirmed. But these are mostly irregulars (again, losses for professionals are only 16K). Deaths for individual soldiers are also harder to confirm than material losses.
Thanks for your reply - - i wish for Europe to rearm and for the coalition to push russia back. For this to happen, there has to be hope. While it is possible your sources could be better verified, there is no absolute proof of real numbers during war. Let’s keep hope and try to be true.
These are the sources you gave in this thread … i can’t find anything wrong about those now … but since you’ve been banned from this community, maybe someone else will discuss it eventually.
Well there is a lot of preparation for something going on.
Russia has been massively expanding its military to the point that they are modernizing T-62s with thermals to give to regular units. This is not because of losses in Ukraine. T-90M losses in Ukraine are low as per Oryx with Russia replacing three years of T-90M losses in 2-3 months in 2024. Russia produced 20-30 T-90Ms per month in 2024 which is 240 to 360 in a year (more tanks than the amount Germany has in its entire military). This likely has doubled or even quadrupled since then.
People severely underestimate the size of Uralvagonzavod. It is the largest tank factory in the world. Here it is superimposed over Washington DC and US tank factories:
Uralvagonzavod
Russia had 2.650 T-72B3s and T-72BAs in active service at the start of the war. They have only lost 790 since the start of the war as per Oryx. This leaves them with almost 2,000 T-72B3s and T-72BAs. This combined with old T-72Bs being modernized since the start of the war means Russia likely has well over 2,000 T-72s in active service.
This is already more tanks than the amount the US has in active service (around 1,600, Wikipedia states 2,600 but this is incorrect as the amount of Armoured BCTs got decreased).
Russia had around 300 T-90Ms at the start of 2024. Accounting for losses, they had 500-620 at the end of the year. By the end of this year, they will have 700-920 assuming losses and production stays the same.
Around a thousand T-62s have left storage since the start of the war. Most have been modernized.
This means Russia will have almost 4,000 tanks by the end of this year assuming production of T-90Ms did not increase since 2024 which I doubt.
The T-90M and T-72B3 are comparable to western tanks. The modernized T-62s are nowhere near as good as western tanks but will still be a major threat due to their large numbers.
We also know Russia is massively expanding its army because they have been establishing new units.
Here is just one example, the 44th Army Corps:
Link
Link
Link
Which even western sources noted.
This is a newly formed Army Corps.
Russia even formed a new Motor Rifle Regiment just a week ago:
Link
Link
Link
Link
People forget that most of the Russian Armed Forces is not taking part in the Special Military Operation. The majority of soldiers in Ukraine are from irregular volunteer formations not from regular Russian military units. This is well shown by the losses.
Motorized Rifles: 6,457
VDV: 3,257
Naval Infantry: 1,305
Tank Crew: 1,806
Artillery: 851
Special Forces: 736
Engineering: 291
Navy: 291
VVS: 265
Other: 957
Total: 16,216
Source: MediaZona
This shows that the losses of Russian regulars is actually quite low. Including irregulars, the losses would be almost one hundred thousand as per the same source. This shows that Russia is mostly using irregulars.
Why is Russia trying to expand their military to such a high degree? No clue but something is on Putin’s mind.
Fog of war ? Did you see these ? The total combat losses of the enemy (russia) from (…)
2022 feb 24 to 2025 Mar. 27 https://lemmy.world/post/27444482
personnel 908890
tanks 10438
troop carrying AFV 21701
artillery systems 25265
MLRS 1343
anti aircraft systems 1118
aircrafts 370
helicopters 335
UAV 30926
cruise missiles 3121
boats 28
submarine 1
vehicles & fuel tanks 42070
special equipment 3787
if your sources diverge, please choose only one of these numbers, the best established one, (# of lost tanks ?) with a different source (only one souce) for comparison.
Ukrainian MOD is hardly reliable. Russia doesn’t even have 10K tanks.
MediaZona and Oryx meanwhile require actual evidence for their numbers.
Russian material losses are very well documented so I don’t see them being significantly higher. Oryx states that Russia has lost around 3K tanks. This is far more realistic. These are mostly old tanks which makes sense as the majority of forces in the SMO are irregulars. Less than 800 of those losses are T-72B3s or T-72BAs.
MediaZona’s estimate for Russian losses is 150K including unconfirmed losses using excess male deaths which about 50% higher than the 100K deaths they have confirmed. But these are mostly irregulars (again, losses for professionals are only 16K). Deaths for individual soldiers are also harder to confirm than material losses.
Thanks for your reply - - i wish for Europe to rearm and for the coalition to push russia back. For this to happen, there has to be hope. While it is possible your sources could be better verified, there is no absolute proof of real numbers during war. Let’s keep hope and try to be true.
This is true although as far as this war is concerned, I believe that some numbers are more realistic than others.
These are the sources you gave in this thread … i can’t find anything wrong about those now … but since you’ve been banned from this community, maybe someone else will discuss it eventually.