Shortage of Armored Vehicles Forces Russian Troops to Assault in Civilian Cars

The open-source intelligence group Oryx has compiled statistics that show, since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost a nearly 11,000 armored vehicles, including more than 3,500 tanks, 5,000 armored personnel carriers, 1,000 self-propelled artillery, and almost 300 howitzers.

Speaking in 2023 Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said: “This year alone, we will produce 1,500 tanks.”

According to reports from the Royal United Services Institute [RUSI] around 85% of Russian tanks and armored vehicles deployed to the front since his claim are not newly manufactured but “mothballed” equipment brought from long-term storage – and those are running short.

Recent satellite imagery shows depots such as the Vaghzhanovo depot in Buryatia have been stripped of almost half the stocks seen before the invasion. Most of this equipment is decades old and much has been shipped directly to the battlefield without modernization or refurbishment.

Even the limited numbers of “new builds,” including T-80 and T-90 main battle tanks, have been fielded without critical components, such as explosive reactive armor and laser-guided targeting systems.

The growing shortage of operational armored assets has resulted in Russian troops having to use motorcycles, quad bikes, buggies, modified civilian trucks, and even standard civilian cars to assault Ukrainian defensive positions.

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According to the Atesh partisan group, Russian forces are also using civilian cars, trailers, and minibuses to move artillery ammunition dressed in civilian clothing.

A video released by Ukraine’s 54th “Hetman Ivan Mazepa” Mechanized Brigade at the end of October showed Russian troops assaulting Ukrainian positions in a VAZ Zhiguli car, that had been modified with the roof and doors removed, and an anti-drone “grill” with a camouflage net welded on the top of the vehicle.

The car was following tracks made by armored vehicles in an attempt to avoid landmines unaware that it had been spotted by a reconnaissance drone. It was then engaged by Ukrainian First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drones. It and its crew were destroyed.

Another video released by the press service of the 60th Separate Mechanized “Ingulets” Brigade at the end of November showed Russian infantry assaulting in three similarly modified Niva SUVs. They and their crews were attacked and destroyed by FPV drones dropping munitions on them.