Charred Russian tank and two captured tanks
Posted on 03/27/2022 6:32:24 AM PDT by bert
Russia is attempting to restore old military equipment held in long-term storage to replace losses suffered during its invasion of Ukraine but it is encountering difficulty in doing so because of corruption and the poor condition of the equipment, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said on Saturday.
Military gear is being removed from long-term storage facilities and is being channeled to a repair and rehabilitation base near the Belarus and Ukraine border, GUR asserted, but in cases such as the Russian 4th Tank Division, the conditions of vehicles are such that only one-in-ten "mothballed" units is in working order.
The Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate alleged that corruption had been a major reason for the "extremely unsatisfactory" condition of the equipment being taken out of storage.
"Optical devices and electronics containing precious metals were stolen from the combat vehicles," said GUR. The intelligence body reported that many of the 4th Tank Division's stored tanks were "completely dismantled," and that some did not have engines.
The Armed Forces General Staff of Ukraine said in an early morning Sunday operational report that Russia had not given up on trying to replenish the loss of vehicular equipment and arranging replacements for parts.
The Ukrainian military claimed on Sunday morning that Russia had lost 582 tanks, 1,664 armored vehicles, 294 artillery pieces, 93 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), 52 anti-aircraft systems, 1,144 other ground vehicles and 73 fuel tankers. Open-source intelligence group Oryx, which has been documenting war losses with visual media verification, has identified hundreds of Russian vehicle losses, including 300 tanks, 218 armored fighting vehicles, 294 infantry fighting vehicles, 76 armored personnel carriers, 12 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, 65 infantry mobility vehicles, 60 engineering items, 98 artillery pieces, 33 MLRS, 11 Anti-aircraft systems, 40 surface-to-air systems, and 621 other ground vehicles.
The Ukrainian military added that corruption was impacting Russian troops stationed in Belarus and that soldiers had sold fuel and provisions, or exchanged military equipment for alcohol.
Fuel serves as the Russian military's "second currency," Politico wrote on March 8, and that long-standing traditions of corruption had likely impeded Russian advances. Fuel shortages have continued to have been a problem during the invasion, though Russia has taken efforts to improve supply lines.
Another issue hindering movement by Russian vehicles, as related by retired US Defense Department civil servant Trent Telenko in a widely read Twitter thread, is that corruption likely played a role in the lack of maintenance of the tires of military vehicles. Many videos and photographs have emerged of Russian vehicles abandoned even with fuel inside. Telenko assessed that the tires in some vehicles captured by Ukrainian forces, the unexercised tires were falling off.
Corruption in the Russian defense establishment has also played a role in the development of munitions. According to Politico in 2012, a Russian arms company embezzled millions of dollars meant for a missile interception system. In 2016, a company embezzled funds for navigation and control systems for high-precision ammunition.
In a UK Defense Ministry intelligence update on Sunday morning, it was noted that long-range precision weapons being launched from Russian airspace had a very high failure rate, though it was unclear what was the reason for these inadequacies.
"Up to 60% failure rates of these weapons will compound Russia’s problem of increasingly limited stocks forcing them to revert to less sophisticated missiles or accepting more risk to their aircraft," the UK Defense Ministry attributed to US reports.
Russia ranked 136th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2021 corruption perceptions index.
GUR also noted on Saturday that there were other challenges besides corruption hindering Russia's restoration of old equipment, and that "in general, the Russian Federation often faces the problem of the impossibility of restoring equipment after 'deconservation' from warehouses."
The intelligence body also claimed in the same report that a regiment commander in the 4th Tank Division had killed himself, but it was not clear if GUR was implying that there was a connection between the suicide and corruption, or equipment rehabilitation issues.
One thinks of Hitler in his bunker giving orders as Berlin is collapsing to divisions that no longer exist .
In the words of President Biden "For God's sake", Ukraine captured 100 battle ready Russian tanks!
Ukraine now has more tanks than when the war started.
The number of dead soldiers is disputed but even the lowest number is five figures. Perhaps worse, more alarming, is the number of captured Russian troops. It's really really bad out there
The Putin bluff has been called. His lousy two pair of sevens and threes loses to the three tens and two sixes Ukranian full house.
Do you know how many Ukrainian tanks and troops Russia has captured? There are entire bases full of equipment.
People have been stealing parts from those tanks for years and selling them on line.
It’s all ebay’s fault.
Charred Russian tank and two captured tanks
So, the real problem is that the readiness of the military has been a bunch of paper lies. The politburo believed they had a real military, real equipment, and real readiness. Now they find out after the invasion that the US left more working equipment in Afghanistan under Biden then they actually had.
They will have to prepare for a summer offensive now, they have no other choices except to negotiate peace and have a hostile border nation.
Dream on Rusike propagandist
Will you still have a job under the post Putin Regime?
Yep. Putinist Russia is everything it claims Ukraine is. Corrupt and hollow. Russia has become the joke of the world.
Sounds like Russia is run by Democrats ,LOL
Sounds like a reputable source of news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OolmTpFZRHI
Just one of many captured bases.
“There are entire bases full of equipment.”
And no one to make them work. Oh, and you’re running out of Generals.
Here’s hoping every Russian invader freezes to death with an empty belly.
L
Yep. It was said there is only 3 days of food since day one. Dream on.
Here are the very ultra conservative estimate by Orix. These have to be actually observed destroyed equipment. Likely higher than this as we can’t expect perfect observation.
“Open-source intelligence group Oryx, which has been documenting war losses with visual media verification, has identified hundreds of Russian vehicle losses, including 300 tanks, 218 armored fighting vehicles, 294 infantry fighting vehicles, 76 armored personnel carriers, 12 mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, 65 infantry mobility vehicles, 60 engineering items, 98 artillery pieces, 33 MLRS, 11 Anti-aircraft systems, 40 surface-to-air systems, and 621 other ground vehicles.
He’ll just go back to his regular job as a paid propagandist for the CCP.
I’m surprised that the Afgan Taliban have not given Putin discount prices on the 85 Billion Dollar U.S. new military equipment given to the Taliban by Biden.
All I want is ONE of those APCs. The homeowners association might not be happy about me parking it in our driveway.
Has Putin checked eBay?
“It was said there is only 3 days of food..”
Looting convenience stores has helped a bit I suppose.
L
The number is climbing, and should be eye-opening to armor officers in armies around the world. Yes tanks are big and bad and very capable. Employ them stupidly, with poor tactics, and losses will add up quickly.
Two things are probably of vital interest to the Russian military and civilian leadership. What are their losses relative to their available and operational tanks? What are their losses broken down by tank types? Sure they may have several thousand operational tanks (or that could be made operational relatively quickly), but how many are new more capable systems, vs older cold-war era systems?
Then multiply these questions re: tanks by every other type of military resource: APCs, trucks, aircraft, ammunition, soldiers... The Ukrainians are in trouble, and taking a pounding. However, the Russians are not sitting pretty either, they've stepped in it and are (re)learning some hard lessons too.
I now think this movie was way, waaaay more prescient and insightful than given credit for.
Should have got an Emmy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45wce6oSr0M
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