In the Russia-Ukraine War, we are faced with some questions that the human mind does not understand. And we will talk about perhaps the most crucial of them today. If the Russian army is strong, why is Russia losing so many tanks in Ukraine? Or do we take them too seriously?

We have left behind the 58th day of the Russia-Ukraine War. There were too many topics talked about during this war. But some of them were headlines that made us wonder how it could be. Russia has been so unsuccessful in the field in some areas that many people could not perceive the reason for this. Because if we compare the military forces between Russia and Ukraine, there is a gap. For example, when we look at the air power of the two countries, although it is not our subject, we come across a story of great failure. Ukraine has a total of 318 aircraft. And only 69 of them are fighter jets. But when we look at Russia, we see a total of 4173 aircraft. And 772 of them are fighter jets. When you look at this table, Russia should have easily gained air superiority in the field and the Ukrainian army should not be able to stick its head out. But Russia still could not fully establish air superiority in the war. Of course, this is not something Ukraine provides only with warplanes. We also talk about this. Our topic today is why Russia lost so many tanks in Ukraine.

Russia is already a world giant in tanks. When you look at it only in terms of numbers, it is at a level that can easily compete with all the forces in the world on the field. In total, Russia had 12420 tanks before the war. For Ukraine, this figure is only 2596. I'm just saying that it's a serious tank power. In other words, Ukraine is not in a bad situation in this regard, but even that figure remains only if we compare it with the enemy it is fighting. But no matter how big the number is, you will fail when you cannot use your power effectively and efficiently. Russia is experiencing exactly this right now. What you have are not weak tanks. For example, the T-14 tanks, T90Ms, and T-34s in his hands are among the most powerful tanks in the world comparisons. T-14 Armatas is seven years old tanks. They were first introduced at a military victory show in Moscow in 2015.

In other words, the failure of Russia on the field is not due to insufficient tanks. What I'm talking about is not such a failure. This war does not seem to end in the short term. And in the first 50 days of the war, Russia lost ten percent of its total tank strength. Ukraine struck some of these tanks and captured some of them intact. In just the last 4-5 days, Ukraine delivered more than 50 main battle tanks and armored vehicles captured from Russia to its army. In other words, we are talking about such a failure that Russia has lost half of its lost tanks to the enemy. Anyway, there are two main reasons for this failure. One of them is about the military administration in Russia. Secondly, with the military aid of the West to Ukraine. Let's talk about the Russian part first.

Ukrainian villagers steal Russian tank with tractor.

I said that half of the Russian tanks were not destroyed, they were captured by the Ukrainian army. This is the part that is more about the failure of the Russian army than the success of the Ukrainian army. You probably all remember the images: We have seen many times footage of Ukrainian farmers shooting Russian tanks with tractors. Imagine you have made an invasion and you lose your tanks to the villagers. One of the reasons for this to happen is Russia's military understanding known as the Battalion tactical group. Compositions may differ in the formation of these groups. But in general, these are groups that consist of a large number of armored vehicles and a small number of infantry. That means a very heavy strike force with a small number of infantry. But it also has some disadvantages. When these convoys are attacked, they are often destroyed because they have little infantry protection to retaliate.

The battalion tactical groups are more likened to a boxer with a strong right hook, but who can easily be knocked out when hit. So the system is strong but fragile. This means a very serious weakness on the field. Russia lost a lot of tanks because of this Battalion tactical group understanding. In addition, we said that Russia could not achieve air superiority, especially in the first days of the war. Of course, if there is no air superiority, there is no air patrol. In the absence of air patrol, Ukrainian soldiers could easily infiltrate Russian positions. In these infiltration attacks, Ukrainian soldiers destroyed a large number of Russian tanks. We will talk about the systems they use while destroying.

Ukrainians are blocking the roads and disrupting the Russian logistics lines.

Again, one of the reasons originating from Russia is that the Russian army is disgraceful in terms of logistics. Imagine you are occupying a country and some of your tanks are abandoned by your soldiers because they run out of fuel. You can even understand from here how frivolous the logistics planning of the occupation was made. The huge Russian army could not plan the fuel of the tanks it sent to Ukraine. When you look at the field, it's as if Putin got up one morning and said, "Today, my dear, I want to invade Ukraine, send the army" without any preparation. And with this order, the Russian army seems to have entered Ukraine out of necessity. Because fuel is not the only problem with the operation. If you are going to organize an operation in a region, you need to plan the season well. The period that Russia should not choose in the Ukraine Operation was the spring period, which coincides with the end of winter. Russia chose exactly that period. And that's why some of the Russian tanks pulled by the villagers were out of fuel. They were stuck in the spring mud. The tanks, stuck in the mud and unable to advance, were abandoned by the soldiers. Since the deserting soldiers did not destroy the tanks, they did nothing but improve Ukraine's tank inventory.

Speaking of soldiers, let's briefly touch on the inadequacy of the soldiers, which is one of the reasons for Russia's tank losses. Russian ground troops have a large number of new or reserve soldiers. Most of these soldiers had no will to fight. In some cases, soldiers abandoned their vehicles and fled to avoid fighting, not because their tanks were stuck in mud or ran out of fuel. There were even tanks flying over the bridge due to the bad driving of these soldiers. In other words, when you look at the Russian part of this failure in general, the reason was due to the inadequacy of the army. Russia lost half of the tanks it lost because of this inadequacy. Of course, this is not the only reason.

javelin antitank weapon

When we look at the destroyed Russian tanks, we see that the western aid to Ukraine and the Ukrainian army are using them effectively. Two systems stand out in these aids. Javelin and NLAW. Javelin is used by the US military and 20 different countries. A third-generation weapon based on the throw-forget principle. It has an effective firing range of 4000 meters. These weapons, which can shred 600 to 750 millimeters of armor, can be thrown from the shoulder and can also be used on tactical vehicles. Of course, the shoulder-loaded systems used by Ukraine. Javelin missiles were first used against Iraqi T-72 tanks in the invasion of Iraq. They were successful against those tanks. Now they are used against Russian tanks. And most of the tanks destroyed by Ukraine were destroyed by Javelin anti-tank missiles.

Lockheed Martin is the manufacturer of the Javelin missiles. And the firm designed these missiles so that they could explode at the top of the tanks where the armor is weakest. More importantly, it is an effective system against the reactive armor of most Russian tanks. Javelins have 2 warheads, The first one destroys the reactive armor, and the other pierces the chassis underneath. In other words, if used correctly, the chance of a tank surviving this anti-tank is very low. And there are a lot of these systems in Ukraine. It is thought that the USA has sent a total of 7000 Javelins to date. This means two-thirds of the Javelin inventory is in the hands of the USA. It is said that it will take at least 4 years to replace the systems sent by the US army to Ukraine. In other words, the USA has seriously strengthened Ukraine's hand in this regard.

Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW)

In addition, the only help in this regard did not come from the USA. England sent NLAW systems to Ukraine. And the number they sent is exactly 3600. These systems are also effective systems that explode on the tank turret. The NLAW is a disposable anti-tank missile. Cannot be refilled. It has an effective range of 600 meters against fixed targets and 400 meters against moving targets. That is, it is a very effective system when entering the target at close range. And Ukraine hit some of the Russian tanks it hit with these systems. In short, Ukraine's success is not the only reason why Russia lost so many tanks and probably will lose even more. Also, it is not just the help of the west. Half of the failure is due to these two reasons, while the other half is due to Russia having a poor quality army. In other words, if Russia is not removed from the beginning after Russia leaves Ukraine, Putin will seriously attack the army. Look at the cross-border operations carried out by Turkey in terms of operational quality, and what Russia is trying to do in Ukraine.