Russian forces in Ukraine have lost 44 artillery systems and two dozen tanks in the past 24 hours, according to Kyiv’s military, as it said missiles had also hit two of Russia’s large landing ships in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
Russia has lost a total of 6,876 tanks since the outbreak of all-out war in February 2022, according to updated figures published by Ukraine’s armed forces on Sunday. Moscow has also lost 10,855 artillery systems in the 25 months of war, by Ukraine’s count.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Ukraine’s military said it had successfully attacked two of Russia’s larparte landing ships, the Yamal and the Azov, and a communications hub in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol as well as other, unspecified infrastructure facilities.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
IHOR TKACHOV/AFP via Getty Images
The figures from Ukraine are impossible to independently verify, but they offer some indication of Russia’s extensive losses on land and sea.
Kyiv has been more successful in targeting Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, partly based in Crimea, than in restraining Russia’s advances westward in mainland Ukraine. But recent gains, such as the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka, taken by the Kremlin’s forces in mid-February, have come at a high cost to both sides.
Russian forces have marginally advanced west of Avdiivka, the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday.
Russia is widely expected to launch renewed onslaughts on Ukrainian defenses in the coming months as the warmer spring and summer months approach. Despite heavy losses to key systems like artillery and tanks, Russia has managed to replenish its stocks of equipment and up its production of new systems, sustaining its attacks on Ukrainian front-line troops.
Ukraine, leaning on Western aid to continue its war effort, is struggling to keep up the pace of its operations without the concrete promise of future deliveries from its largest backer, the U.S.
A $60-billion aid package has languished in Congress for months, and a “short-term stop gap” measure of $300 million in military aid announced by the Pentagon earlier this month will scarcely ease concerns over how Ukraine’s depleted ammunition stocks will impact Russian advances.
Kyiv is losing its own resources in the attritional war. Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had lost 15,587 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, plus 8,514 field artillery guns and mortars, since February 2022. Like Ukraine’s tally of Russian losses, the figures are very difficult to verify.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.