Russian military begins to switch to horses amid heavy losses in equipment, – Forbes

Russian mechanized regiments are losing armored vehicles at a rate of 6,000 units per year.

Russia’s losses in equipment in the war against Ukraine have already exceeded 15,000 units. Perhaps this was inevitable, since Soviet equipment reserves are running out – the Russian occupiers have begun to switch to horses.

Forbes journalist David Axe drew attention to a video of Russian soldiers riding horses somewhere in occupied Ukraine . He emphasized that Russian mechanized regiments are losing armored vehicles at a rate of 6,000 units per year. And Russian factories are simply unable to replace these losses.

“Russia produces about 200 new BMP-3 combat vehicles and 90 new T-90M tanks every year, as well as several hundred other new armored vehicles, including the BTR-82 wheeled combat vehicle,” the article notes.

In the first two years of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kremlin managed to make up for the large gap between losses and the production of new equipment. Moscow took Cold War-era equipment out of storage and sent it to the front, but these reserves are also running out.

“As armored vehicles, even very old ones, become increasingly rare in the Russian inventory, more and more Russian assault teams are riding in civilian vans and compact cars. Horses may be next. […] But that doesn’t mean Russia is losing the war in a broader sense. As bad as Russia’s force generation problems are, Ukraine’s are even worse,” Axe writes.

“Russian troops are suffering heavy losses. But they continue to advance in many areas where Ukrainian defenses are stretched thin by a lack of manpower – and where Russia has been able to concentrate superior forces,” says Ukrainian think tank Frontelligence Insight.

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