As of: February 8, 2024, 5:05 a.m
By: Victoria Krumbeck
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The stockpiles of the Russian armed forces are said to have fallen significantly since the Ukraine war.
Satellite images indicate high levels of wear.
Moscow/Kiev – The Ukraine war has caused enormous losses on both sides for almost two years.
The exact extent of the damage to Russia and Ukraine cannot be independently verified.
Kiev and Moscow have lost not only many soldiers but also a lot of equipment.
Satellite images analyzed by open-source intelligence analysts indicate that Russia has already used more artillery than previously thought.
Russia: Satellite images indicate high casualties in the Ukraine war
The Russian army is said to have withdrawn a large amount of its equipment from the warehouses, according to two analysts.
On February 3rd, the X account (formerly Twitter) High Marsed published its findings and also linked to the observations of the YouTube channel Cover Cabal, which were published on the same day.
According to the two's research, Russia stored around 4,450 tank artillery pieces in the most important bases before the war.
The number has now fallen to 2,961.
The estimates for towed howitzers are even clearer.
While around 14,631 pieces were stored before the war, the photographs only show an estimated number of 6,786 pieces.
The sharp decline suggests that Russia had to withdraw a large number of the equipment due to high wear and tear and losses.
Russia's 'high attrition rate' - satellite images show declining inventories
To arrive at these numbers, analysts used satellite images of bases where tank artillery and towed artillery can be seen.
The evaluated satellite images come from different time periods and some could only be viewed at low resolution.
Therefore, identifying towed artillery in the photographs was significantly more difficult than identifying tank artillery, the post on
Satellite images of a Russian base with tank artillery and towed howitzers.
© Screenshot YouTube Cover Cabal
"I think we can conclude that there is a high attrition rate that could be caused by high losses, but bullet wear is also probably very important," High Marsed told
Newsweek
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Losses in the Ukrainian War: Declining number of artillery at Russian bases
“Russia fires a lot of shells, so they need a lot of replacement rounds, but many of the systems are no longer in production.
I think it is also worth noting that they first took the more powerful towed artillery such as the 2A65 [howitzer] and 2A36 [field gun],” the analyst added.
In addition, part of the remaining inventory would consist of some very old guns.
The M-30 howitzer is said to have been used in World War II.
There is also the “MT-12, which is theoretically an anti-tank gun and not artillery, and the M-46 with a caliber of 130 mm, which is not actively used by Russia,” High Marsed explained.
Russia's war is emptying stocks, the analyst cannot say when they will finally be empty or when effects will be felt at the front.
(vk)