The Russian army began to lose an average of 10 tanks a day after Ukrainian troops launched a dual counteroffensive in the east and south six weeks ago. At the same time, Ukrainian losses of such combat vehicles are much less - only two tanks per day..

Forbes writes about this, adding that such a gap is shocking.. An army that attacks usually loses more vehicles than the defending one.. Since she needs to cross the terrain while the defense can simply hide in the trenches and behind the fortifications, firing from safer places.

Moreover, the Russian army in theory still has a fire advantage over the Ukrainian forces, although this advantage has decreased with the increase in Russian losses.. Meanwhile, Ukraine is receiving more equipment from foreign donors, as well as from Russia itself, whose military is abandoning tanks and howitzers in the process of retreat..

Forbes writes that accelerating Russian tank losses are the result of bad command and morale issues, not technological balance on the battlefield.. Half of the military vehicles that Russia had to write off since the beginning of September were abandoned by their crews and then captured by the Ukrainian military. The publication notes that the Ukrainian army undermines many Russian tanks, but captures no less, using this technique later in their favor..

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Russian losses were huge even before the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. As of September 1, Moscow's army has lost 994 tanks, according to external analysts.. 614 of them were destroyed. This means that since the end of February, Russia has lost five of these combat vehicles per day.. A thousand tanks is more than in the arsenal of most countries. Due to heavy losses of T-72, T-80 and T-90, the Kremlin had to get old T-62s from the warehouses that rolled off the assembly line in the 1970s and earlier..

Forbes writes that such equipment has not greatly influenced the advancement of Ukrainian brigades in the south and east over the past six weeks.. Now old tanks account for a significant part of Russian losses in armored vehicles. As of September 1, Russia has lost only one T-62. But on October 19, she had to write off 34 of these tanks.. At the same time, 30 of them fell into the hands of the Ukrainian military.. The total number of tanks that Russia lost from February to October 19 is 1392 vehicles. Of these, 801 were destroyed.

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At the same time, the Ukrainian army, as of September 1, lost 249 tanks, most of which are T-64s..

This means that the Ukrainian military for half a year of the war lost on average a little more than one tank per day.. Since the beginning of the counter-offensive in the south and east, the rate of Ukrainian losses has accelerated to two tanks per day.. As of October 19, the Ukrainian army lost 320 tanks, 176 of them were destroyed. Over the past six weeks, Ukraine has lost 71 tanks, but captured 194. In other words, the counteroffensive resulted not so much in the loss of equipment, but in an increase in its stocks..