Ukraine has more tanks than Russia. Before 24 February, it was other way round – Bloomberg

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine has only increased its tank fleet, while Russia's has been halved.

Source: Bloomberg referring to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Oryx monitoring group.

Details: According to Bloomberg, statistics updated on Thursday from the Ukraine Support Tracker database show that allies have delivered 471 new tanks to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war, with 286 more to come, although the pace of new aid has slowed.

Bloomberg has taken into account the statistics of lost and captured equipment recorded by Oryx and found that Ukraine's tank fleet has increased since the start of the invasion last year, while Russia's has been halved.

Thus, Ukraine currently has about 1,500 tanks, while Russia has 1,400.

Bloomberg reported that the figures for Russian tanks match those reported on Tuesday by UK Chief of the Defence Staff Tony Radakin.

Quote from Radakin: "Russia has lost nearly half the combat effectiveness of its army. Last year it fired 10 million artillery shells but at best can produce 1 million shells a year. It has lost 2,500 tanks and at best can produce 200 tanks a year." 

For reference: Bloomberg emphasised that the current assessment is based on confirmed data on lost and captured equipment, as well as weapons sent to Ukraine. There is no data on Russian production.

More details: According to Oryx, which only records losses for which there is photographic or video evidence, 2,082 Russian tanks have been destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured since the full-scale war began in 2022. Moscow started the full-scale war with 3,417 tanks, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

At the same time, Bloomberg noted that there are significant difficulties in collecting information from open sources, especially when it comes to Ukrainian losses, which are less recorded. There is also no reliable data on the number of tanks and artillery shells that Russia has produced or withdrawn from the reserve since the beginning of the full-scale war.

Updated data from the Kiel Institute for the period from 25 February to 31 May show that aid pledges were significantly lower than in the winter. Military pledges for this period totalled €9 billion (US$9.77 billion).

At the same time, the share of military aid increased compared to financial and humanitarian pledges. The United States and European Union member states are the slowest to fulfil their arms commitments, according to the report: 286 out of 757 tanks and 177 out of 556 155-mm and 152-mm howitzers have not yet arrived.

Bloomberg suggested that these delays may make even some of the tanks already delivered less effective, as Ukrainian troops have been forced to rush through training.

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