As Putin’s invasion of Ukraine continues to sputter, downtown Kyiv has been transformed into a vast open-air exhibition of destroyed and captured Russian tanks.
Locals wandering through the streets of the capital and pausing to observe dozens of military vehicles parked in the middle of the road were captured on camera today and shared on social media.
The striking image of the rusted weapons is a harsh indictment of Russia’s inability to seize Kiev.
It comes as Britain blasted the ‘poor performance’ of its military forces this week, while statistics indicates that over 44,000 Kremlin soldiers have been killed and almost 1,800 tanks have been damaged.
The Ministry of Defense’s daily intelligence report stated that Moscow had lost a considerable number of combat tanks because they lacked explosive reactive armour (ERA) technology.
The report stated, “Used properly, ERA reduces the effectiveness of incoming missiles before they strike the tank.” This shows that Russian forces have not addressed a culture of ineffective ERA use that stretches back to the First Chechen War in 1994.
The report said, “It is quite probable that many Russian tank personnel lack the training to maintain ERA, resulting in either improper installation of the explosive parts or their omission altogether.”
British officials stated that many failures by Russian commanders to impose low-level battle discipline contributed significantly to the poor performance of Russia’s armed forces during the conflict.
According to information supplied by the Ukrainian military, their troops had killed about 44,000 Russian soldiers and damaged approximately 1,800 tanks.
Other estimates, such as those by Oryx, a military site that has monitored Russian losses since the beginning of the war, place Moscow’s equipment losses at an even greater number.
Oryx, which records losses based on visual confirmation, reports that Ukraine’s forces have destroyed, damaged, or seized over 5,000 Russian military vehicles, including over 3,000 tanks.
Moscow shamelessly anticipated seizing Kiev within days. Putin’s soldiers are instead engaged in a protracted struggle against a determined Ukrainian resistance.
While Russia has employed tactics and military hardware from the Soviet era, Ukraine has deployed smaller, more mobile units that can strike targets and quickly retreat from danger before the invaders can respond. This has enabled Ukraine to halt Russia’s advance and in some regions even push it back.
Since Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, the United Kingdom has supplied Ukraine with about 7,000 anti-tank missiles. Ukraine has also made excellent use of U.S.-supplied weaponry, particularly the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). As a result of Kyiv’s superior arsenal, Russia has suffered a series of devastating blows.
Dozens of videos depict Ukraine’s forces destroying Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles, using drones to track the slow-moving hardware while attacking them with artillery and missiles, including the highly mobile hand-held Javelin missile, which enables foot soldiers to destroy tanks in close-quarters combat.