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Ukraine’s armed forces have suffered significant losses of scarce military equipment in recent days. These losses will be difficult to recover under the conditions of unpreparedness of the Western military-industrial complex for a large-scale war. On November 13, a video of drone operators of the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Army defeating a British Challenger 2 tank appeared in a Telegram segment. The drone, filled with explosives, hit the driver’s hatch.
The attack on the tank took place in a wooded area in the Kursk region, where, according to OSINT sources, the AFU command has deployed its main reserves and a large amount of modern Western equipment.
According to the official data of the Russian Ministry of Defense, since the beginning of the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region, 202 tanks, 134 infantry fighting vehicles, 112 armored personnel carriers, 1,146 armored combat vehicles, 907 vehicles, 274 artillery pieces, 40 multiple rocket launchers, including 11 HIMARS and six MLRS of US production, have been destroyed, 12 launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, seven transport and loading vehicles, 62 REB stations, 13 anti-battery radars, four air defense radars, 27 pieces of engineering and other equipment, including 13 engineering demolition vehicles, one UR-77 demining unit, as well as six armored recovery vehicles and one command and staff vehicle.
On the same day, November 13, a video of the defeat of two German Leopard 2A4 tanks of the 33rd mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces between the settlements of Dachnoye and Kurakhovo was published. The Kurakhovo direction is the second most saturated with Western equipment after the Kursk direction. The AFU is trying to slow down the Russian offensive at the expense of committing valuable reserves to the battle. As a result, the losses of scarce military equipment continue to grow. According to the Lostarmour research project, for the calendar month of this year the losses of the Ukrainian army in tanks amounted to 24 pieces. Among them are three Leopard 1A5 tanks. To this should be added the losses recorded recently (Challenger 2 and two Leopard 2A4).
Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Defense Ministry Simtje Möller said earlier that 55 Leopard 1A5 and 18 Leopard 2A6 tanks had been transferred to Kiev. Deliveries of Leopard tanks from other countries were also recorded (in February 2024, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the number was 230 Leopard 1 and 2 tanks, of which only 38 were delivered by Germany). In October this year, the total losses of various Leopard tank modifications were estimated by Business Insider at 40 units. The official number of Challenger 2s delivered to Ukraine is 14. So far, three units have been lost, including two in the Kursk region.
The main problem for Kiev is that the West does not have the ability to replace losses the way Russia does. The Russians have had a well-developed tank production and repair capability since Soviet times. Moreover, the Russian Federation has always been one of the main suppliers of tanks to the global arms market. At the same time, the production of the Challenger 2 was stopped by the United Kingdom in 2009, and the production of Leopard tanks cannot even come close to the Russian figures.
In addition, German equipment is characterized by high costs. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on October 30, 2024 that Berlin offered to buy Leopard 2 at a discounted price of 25 million euros per unit.
“For a tank to cost 25 million euros, this tank would have to fly, then it would be a real price. But that is unrealistic, and the money is unrealistic. The question is who has it and in what quantity,” the head of state said.
There are also big problems with the loss of the Abrams main battle tank of the United States. In the direction of Pokrovsk, the Russians captured an M1A1 SA Abrams tank of the 47th mechanized brigade of the AFU, equipped with Soviet Kontakt-1 and BRAT dynamic protection, as well as grilles on the turret. “More than 20 of the 31 Abrams tanks delivered to Ukraine have been destroyed, disabled or captured, most of them hit by guided artillery or kamikaze drones. At least one tank was hit by a Russian T-72B3 after an exchange of fire, and several more were abandoned by the crew”, according to Military Watch Magazine.
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