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“Are they (Russia) running out of equipment?”

That has been a central theme of this thread. Russia had huge stocks of military materiel, left over from the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union dissolved, production of new equipment plummeted - but they still had those World class iron mountains of old gear, like no one else.

Well they have been burning through those tanks, Artillery pieces, Artillery shells, cruise missiles, attack helicopters and so on, much faster than they could produce them. Roughly speaking, they have already partied up over half of the old arsenal (mostly the better stuff). Some things will run low before others, but as they do, Russia will be unable to keep up the same pace of operations - the whole calculus of the war will change.

Not only this war, but future wars and diplomacy as well. The Russian arsenal that threatened the World for so long is being systematically demolished. It would likely take decades to rebuild it.

As the old stocks are depleted, Russia’s financial reserves are running down as well. At these rates, real constraints are going to develop by Christmas. Russia could limp along fighting for years, but they would have to sink to North Korea like levels of political repression and reduced standard of living. Even if they do continue fighting, it will become less effective, and likely more costly in terms of casualties, as they are forced to rely more and more on just Infantry.

Watching the old Soviet stockpile go up in smoke is a big picture view of this war. 2-3 years that will reshape the global security order significantly. Putin has driven Russia over a cliff, but we are watching in slow motion, tank by tank, howitzer by howitzer.