Friday 19 August 2022 09:31 AM Russia's huge tank losses are blamed on 'inept' Kremlin top brass as MoD mocks ... trends now
Britain yesterday mocked 'the poor performance' of Russia's armed forces in Ukraine, blaming the country's top brass for their ineptitude and lack of discipline amid huge losses suffered by Vladimir Putin's invading forces.
A daily intelligence report by the Ministry of Defence said Moscow had lost a large number of battle tanks because they were not equipped with explosive reactive armour technology – or ERA.
‘Used correctly, ERA degrades the effectiveness of incoming projectiles before they hit the tank,’ the report said. ‘This suggests that Russian forces have not rectified a culture of poor ERA use, which dates back to the First Chechen War in 1994.’
The report added: 'It is highly likely that many Russian tank crews lack the training to maintain ERA, leading to either poor fitting of the explosive elements, or it being left off entirely.'
British officials said 'the war has seen numerous failures by Russian commanders to enforce low-level battle discipline', adding: 'The effect of these failures is likely a significant factor behind the poor performance of Russia's forces.'
Data released by Ukraine's military said their troops have killed more than 44,000 Russian soldiers and destroyed some 1,800 tanks. Other estimates, such as from Oryx - a military blog that has tracked Russian losses since the start of the war - put Moscow's equipment losses even higher.
Oryx, which tracks losses based on visual confirmation, says more than 5,000 Russian military vehicles have been either destroyed, damaged or seized by Ukraine's forces - including more than 3,000 tanks.
Moscow brazenly expected to seize Kyiv in a matter of days. Instead, Putin's forces have found themselves fighting a protracted conflict against a fierce Ukrainian resistance. While Russia has employed Soviet-era tactics and military hardware, Ukraine has deployed smaller, more mobile units - to great effect - that can strike targets and quickly retreat from danger before the invaders can react - allowing Ukraine to halt Russia's advance.
The UK has given Ukraine almost 7,000 anti-tank missiles since Putin's troops invaded the country on February 24, while Kyiv has also made effective use of U.S.-supplied weaponry, especially the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). Russia has taken a series of major blows as a result of Kyiv having such advanced weaponry.
Dozens of videos have shown Ukraine's forces destroying Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles, employing drones to track the slow-moving hardware while attacking them with artillery and missiles, such as the highly mobile hand-held Javelin missile - which enables foot soldiers to destroy tanks in close-range combat.
This is the moment a Russian armoured vehicle was driven straight over a landmine in Ukraine, blowing it to smithereens and sending soldiers running, in yet another instance of Vladimir Putin's military displaying inept tactics
Pictured: A Russian T-90 is blown to smithereens after its internal ammunition appears to have been struck by a rocket. Kharkiv's air defence force was thought to be responsible
The £3million tank is thought to have joined at least 20 of the elite weapons of war that have been wrecked so far
Footage, often captured by the tracking drones, has shown countless Russian tanks being blasted to smithereens by Ukrainian weapons as they rumbled down a dirt road or through a built up area. The Russian crews rarely have time to escape the attacks, let alone to return fire.
Just this week, a Russian armoured vehicle - a BMP - was shown in a video driving straight over a land mine. In another, a £3 million Russian T-90 tank - supposedly one of its most advanced weapons - was blown to bits.
But the exposure of Russia's out-dated reliance on heavy armour - and huge losses as a result - is not the only embarrassment Putin and his generals have been subjected to since underestimating Ukraine's resistance.
Russia's armies were forced to retreat from Kyiv in early April, the Black Sea flagship Moskva was sunk, Russia withdrawn from Snake Island, and more recently Russian-occupied Crimea was attacked for the first time.
Elsewhere, a Wagner base was destroyed after a Russian propagandist gave away its location, and in the early days of the war - Russian hardware was getting stuck in the mud.
Pictured: The moment a Russian tank was destroyed in a suspected Ukrainian strike. The massive explosion took place just outside Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine: Phoenix TV
The drone footage shows the Russian tank stopped on a road, with another tank close behind it
The US-made Javelin missile can be seen flying from a height before slamming down on the tank from above - known as a 'curveball shot' - and sparking a huge fireball explosion
Ukrainian military intelligence officials said yesterday that Russia has been forced to pull back 24 fighter planes and 14 attack helicopters from Crimea after the strikes on airfields in Saki and Gvardiyske. The retreat has seen the aircraft moved deeper into the annexed Black Sea peninsula, or to Russia itself.
The strikes on Crimea took many by surprise, and while Kyiv has not officially
