It’s the beginning of October 2022. A young American man is doing something spectacularly
unusual. He’s actually reading a newspaper!. So, what does he learn from this
mysterious object of yore? Well, it’s Jimmy Carter’s 98th
birthday. The US and Venezuela just did a prisoner swap, and it’s the five-year
anniversary of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But the story that
gets his attention is headlined, “Ukraine has been turned into a giant scrap heap of Russian tanks.”
What’s going on? What’s been going on? That’s what we’ll find out today.
It’s true; if you went to certain areas of Ukraine right now, you’d find what look like graveyards
for Russian tanks. The tanks, usually looking like they’re well past their prime, are everywhere. You
can see photos of them in the background as Ukrainians go about their normal day.
Take, for instance, the town of Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast province in
eastern Ukraine. This place used to look majestic.
These days, if you walked through parts of Izium, the word that would spring to mind
is “apocalypse.” It was liberated in September 2022, but not before five months of fighting.
When the Russians were there, they spent some of their time interrogating, torturing,
and killing residents. One of them who survived later said he was interrogated and shocked by one
of those old Soviet military field telephones. Another witness said, “Russians wore masks and
tortured civilians with bare electric wires.” Mass graves were later dug up, with the western
media saying this was now a pattern of Russian occupation. We only know this,
of course, because the Russians left in a hurry. They didn’t just retreat, but they left all kinds
of things behind – including quite a lot of tanks, some bashed up, some just abandoned.
The Washington Post wrote, “Ukrainian troops have documented war machines in various states, from
combat-ready tanks to vehicles in need of repair. In some cases, Ukrainian forces have obliterated
Russian weapons, leaving smoldering vehicles to be discovered by the advancing forces.”
In one of the videos, you can actually hear a Ukrainian talking about Russian tanks as
if they were the bounty of school kids’ stolen candy. One of the soldiers says,
“You and I get a tank…We all get a tank each.” This was just one town. If you were to
visit the town of Lyman in the Donbas region, you’d see something similar.
You’d find tanks all over the place, some of which have been damaged,
but some that were abandoned in decent shape. What a gift that is to the Ukrainians. We’ll
come to the value of such tanks a bit later. One media report said the aftermath of the
Russian retreat was a “macabre scene.” Bodies of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were strewn
all over the streets. A Ukrainian resident told a Ukrainian soldier, “The smell is unbearable.
Stray dogs have already eaten two of them. When are you coming to pick up these dead
bodies?” She might also have asked, “When are you going to take all those damned tanks away?”
The retreat was described as “embarrassing” for Putin. Not only had the Russian Army lost
a lot of young men, but again the Russians had lost a lot of expensive machinery too.
The Guardian wrote, “Video showed burned-out vehicles,
personal belongings, and dead soldiers strewn along a forest road. Ukrainian
forces recovered at least one T-72 tank, which had suffered minor damage.”
Carnage everywhere; dead people lying in the streets, families found dead in their cars,
and a great big pile-up of heavy-duty military weapons. You can read a news story
similar to this relating to a number of places. Earlier in the year, news reports suggested that
Russia was losing about five tanks daily. Then things got much worse for Russia when Ukraine
began its counteroffensives in the East later in the year. The number of tank losses was then
reported to be in the region of ten tanks a day. These were T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s. Some
of the T-62s that were destroyed or captured date back to the 1970s, possibly even the 60s.
Sure, the Ukrainians have lost a good number of their own tanks, but not anywhere near as many
as the Russians, according to various sources in the western media. The Russian media, of course,
might put a different spin on things. No doubt both sides don’t mind tweaking the numbers.
That’s war. But these tanks are proof that Russia has done extremely badly in the tank department.
Ten tanks a day adds up to a lot. In October, Forbes wrote that total tank losses for Russia
stood at 1,392, with 801 of them destroyed and the others still being repairable. We found a
report from a Ukrainian source that said the Russian tank losses were more like 2,573,
although that story was published two weeks later. Other reports stated that some of the abandoned
tanks were in tip-top condition and still of service because Ukrainian ammo could be used
with them. Some were burned and busted with Russian soldiers still inside them,
usually three of them. 6% of all Russian casualties in the war have been tank crews,
according to one analyst. It must be a horrible way to die being burned alive in a metal box,
but it seems that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a Russian soldier. Bear
that in mind as we go on with this show. According to the website Global Firepower,
Russia has a stock of 12,420 tanks and 30,122 armored vehicles. These numbers are for 2022,
although we aren’t sure if Global Firepower keeps updating the website since there are
daily losses. Still, about 10,000 of the Russian tanks are in storage. From the ones being used,
as you know, some are old, but some of them are modern iterations of the very able T-90.
Now we must ask why so many Russian tanks are decorating parts of Ukraine. If you were to ask
an analyst, they might tell you it’s complicated. They’ll tell you that it’s more than Russian tanks
being obsolete on the battlefield. Let us explain.
According to experts watching the war unfold, Russia has lost 237 T-72B3 tanks
and hundreds more other iterations of T-72s that date back decades.
The country has lost in the region of 170 T-80s,
which were around in the 1970s and were last built in 2001.
So, yes, we have some pretty old tanks there, but there is more to the losses
than many of the tanks perhaps not being modern enough for battle.
The truth is Russia has been using these tanks when they weren’t needed,
or they deployed them clumsily. A military analyst based in the UK explained, “Tanks are
supposed to fight as part of combined formations, but in terms of how they've been tactically used,
Russia hasn’t done that effectively. “ You see, tanks should usually arrive on the
battlefront when there is infantry and artillery close by to support them. Otherwise, close-range
anti-tank missiles will take out the tanks easily. In the best case scenario for the Russian tank
crews, the Ukrainian anti-tank weapons and the people firing them would be destroyed or at least
repulsed. This hasn’t been happening anywhere near as often as Russian tank crews would like.
We should also look at the billions of dollars the US and other countries are sending to
Ukraine. A lot of the military aid consists of weapons that can easily destroy tanks,
sometimes from a great distance, such as the US’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
In September, the New York Times wrote that these have already helped deplete Russian tank numbers.
But these are for long-distance warfare. The US also supplies arms to Ukraine used
for close-quarters combat, including various anti-tank systems. The weapons sent from the
US include hundreds of Javelin anti-armor systems, each costing about $250,000.
These weapons hit the tanks from above, where they are the weakest.
They’ve been working out so far for Ukraine. The media reported that the US has sent over to
Ukraine “1500 units of tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) anti-tank missiles.”
Along with those, plus the Javelins, the UK added a bunch of New Generation Light Anti-Tank
Weapons. These short-range weapons can be easily transported on light armored vehicles, and the US
has sent millions of dollars worth of those over in its $54 billion package. In terms of weapons,
Ukraine right now is getting a lot of assistance. So, you have old tanks sometimes traveling without
enough support going up against some of the most formidable anti tank weaponry there is. Is
it any wonder those Russian soldiers are leaving their tanks at the side of the street and running
for their lives? All they really want in life is someone to love and friends to share the odd drink
with. Being incinerated is hardly their ambition. This is important, the mental aspect that is.
This isn’t the 1940s. Soldiers are not like they used to be, and their commanders are not
anywhere near as brutal. Sacrificing oneself for your country seems like a raw deal these days,
although it has to be said, back in the day, many Red Army soldiers hated Stalin and so
weren’t overly keen on fighting for him. Some are feeling that way now, because,
as we said, times have changed. Plus, some young men don’t see Ukraine as a threat,
not a threat like the Nazis were. Some of them are more than willing to give up a hunk of metal
rather than be burned inside of it. Some feel like they’re being ordered around by idiots,
pretty much sent to their deaths. As we said, the Russian war plan so far hasn’t been great.
Many news services are reporting about Russians who are no longer willing to fight. One of them
told the BBC in May, “I don't want to go back to Ukraine to kill and be killed.” He explained,
“We were like blind kittens. I'm shocked by our army. It wouldn't cost much to equip
us. Why wasn't it done?” He said so often they were told to move forward without any
previous reconnaissance and with “no protection.” He makes a good point. Many people have commented
on how atrocious Russian strategic efforts have been. This year the long-time political
activist – among many other things – Noam Chomsky talked about the “utter incompetence of the
Russian military.” He’s not alone in saying that. Scores of Russian soldiers who’ve been to the
front line won’t go back, and some who are there now aren’t willing to die. Some of
them have seen traffic jams of tanks on roads when they were being easily picked
off by US and UK-made shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons. A Russian tank crew named Alexie was
there for one such attack, later explaining, “Everyone in the crew was shell-shocked.”
They had no idea what had hit them. This sounds like shooting ducks in a barrel.
What you have is inexperienced young men taking orders that, even to them, don’t seem rational,
moving around in old tanks against some of the best anti-tank weapons in the world. It
used to be that tanks were the best things for taking out tanks, but now these new lightweight
weapons seem to be able to do the job, and Ukraine is being sent them all the time.
The Moscow Times wrote that some of the tanks that date back to the 60s have been fitted with
“makeshift cages to the tops.” That’s hardly what you’d call modern armor. The tank crews
have also tried putting sandbags and pine logs on top of their tanks, but this won’t help their
chances of survival in any significant way. This is why some people say the tank age
is over. They say the tank these days is just too vulnerable. Still,
maybe this just applies for the old tanks. Even so, old and new tanks should be protected
with “explosive reactive armor” (ERA), which does what it sounds like it would do. There is also
active armor, which can sense incoming missiles and intercept them before they get to the tank.
Why can’t Russian tanks employ these features to defend themselves against missiles,
then? By the looks of the battlefield, you’d think those tanks would struggle to react to
an incoming tortoise. Even so, Russia has been a world leader in tank technology and
armor technology, so why are its tanks being taken out so easily? Even though Russia has
the know-how to stop that from happening. One analyst had this to say about that:
“The heavy attrition of Russian Main Battle Tanks in Ukraine is highly likely partially due to
Russia’s failure to fit and properly employ adequate Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA). It
is highly likely that many Russian tank crews lack the training to maintain ERA,
leading to either poor fitting of the explosive elements or it being left off entirely.”
So, this is more a human failure than it is a hardware failure, but it’s more likely a bit of
both. It might even be down to money. Can Russia afford to protect its tanks the way they should
be protected? Half the world is helping Ukraine in this war, and almost no one is helping Russia.
Over $100 billion has been sent in aid to Ukraine in total. The amount of weapons in
those aid packages is staggering, way too many to list here. But be assured,
the western arms industry and its shareholders are having around-the-clock parties with
by-the-minute champagne toasts, just as Russian soldiers are being cooked alive by their weapons
because no country is sending aid to Russia. But there’s more. If you look at video footage
of Russian tanks being blown up or if you take a close look at the dumped tanks, many of them have
ERAs. Some don’t, but that’s probably because Ukrainians had already stripped them down.
What does this mean? Well, firstly, there are
various types of ERA. Some are better than others. Also, ERA will help, but a strike can still be
catastrophic. A missile can still lead to a deadly “pop top,” which means the turret is blown off.
The sad fact is, for Russian soldiers, their armor is less effective than it should be,
eight times less effective than a NATO tank, according to one expert. This means
that the catastrophic kill rate in Russian tanks, especially the older ones, is really
high. With the older tanks, it’s more than just poor ERA or poor ERA management but the tanks'
other attributes that are less than desirable. But as we said, it’s more than just hardware.
If you ask any analyst right now who knows this war inside out, they will also tell you
that crappy tactics and appalling morale among troops count for a lot when it comes to that
deathly landscape of fallen tanks in Ukraine. As for substandard tactics, Russian tanks often
do a follow-the-leader movement, and that has been leading to bunch-ups – the fish in
a barrel formation. We made that formation up, of course, but you know what we mean.
On top of that, as we said, you have lackluster coordination with infantry and artillery, which
is just asking for trouble. Russia has done this time and again. Their tanks have been huddled up,
left out in the open like blind mice among well-armed pigeons, and the majority of the time,
they haven’t had the slightest bit of camouflage. The era of the tank may not be nigh,
but if you think Russia has the time and money to re-design tanks to make them less vulnerable,
you’d likely be wrong. Still, didn’t Hitler once underestimate Russia’s weapon-building
prowess. Still, right now, the worst job in the world has to be being a Russian tank crew.
Now you need to watch “Why Life Inside A Tank Sucks.” Or, have a look at “US World War 3 Plan.”