Where did Russia’s 20,000 tanks go? Arsenal under strain
Analysts say Russia’s tank reserves are near exhaustion as losses in Ukraine outpace production, forcing older T-62/T-72 models back into combat.
Yerel Gündem 
YEREL GÜNDEM / ANKARA, TÜRKİYE — 2 NOVEMBER 2025
Russia is grappling with a deep depletion of its tank fleet, according to open-source assessments, with reserves close to exhausted and new production unable to keep pace with battlefield losses. The shift has pushed older, Cold War–era vehicles back into front-line roles nearly four years into the war in Ukraine.
From Soviet inheritance to modern shortfall
After the Soviet Union’s collapse, Moscow inherited the lion’s share of an estimated 64,000 tanks. Much of that inventory sat in storage as a strategic hedge for a major conflict. By 2020, analysts counted roughly 12,000 tanks across active units and reserves, anchored by T-72, T-80 and T-90 families, with thousands more in older variants.
A war that burned through reserves
The February 2022 invasion changed the calculus. Early assumptions of a quick campaign gave way to attrition. Open-source intelligence now indicates fewer than 2,900 tanks remain in storage, and only a fraction of those can be quickly returned to service due to age, cannibalized parts and poor condition. What’s left is dominated by T-62s, T-64s and early T-72 models, systems many militaries would have long since retired.
Storage bases thinned; depots tapped out
Another indicator of strain is the sharp reduction in storage bases reportedly holding tanks—down from two dozen sites to single digits—consistent with large-scale withdrawals from depots. Since 2022, Russia is assessed to have re-activated thousands of stored vehicles; many, however, were destroyed, abandoned or captured in subsequent operations.
Repair lines over assembly lines
With losses mounting, industry watchers say Russia’s armored replenishment leans heavily on repair and refurbishment, not fresh production. Refitting an old hull is faster than building new, but the payoff diminishes as platforms grow older: survivability, sensors and fire control lag modern standards, and upgrades cannot fully offset design limits.
Battlefield impact: quantity vs. quality
Deploying legacy armor helps fill gaps but introduces operational risks. Older protection packages fare poorly against modern anti-tank weapons; reliability issues strain logistics; and mixed fleets complicate training and maintenance. Where Russia massed armor for breakthroughs, repeated assaults often stalled with heavy losses, reinforcing a grinding, positional fight rather than maneuver warfare.
What to watch next
Analysts expect Moscow to keep cycling older tanks through depots as long as the conflict remains attritional. Key signposts include:
-
Output vs. losses: whether monthly refurbishments and any new builds begin to match or outpace front-line attrition.
-
Fleet mix: a rising share of T-62/T-72 early variants in combat units would signal deeper reserve drawdown.
-
Depot activity: satellite imagery of storage sites and rail movements pointing to continued strip-outs.
-
Protection upgrades: field adoption of improvised armor kits and electronic countermeasures to claw back survivability.
For Ukraine and its partners, the trend underscores how industrial capacity and sustainment now weigh as heavily as tactics. For Russia, the central question is whether repairs, imports of components, and incremental upgrades can keep enough steel on the line to sustain operations without sacrificing effectiveness.
