As of: March 9, 2024, 7:14 a.m
By: Lisa Mahnke
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Russia's armories in the Ukraine war appear to be emptying.
Satellite images indicate a trend.
How is the Russian military doing?
Moscow – There are constant reports of high Russian losses in the Ukraine war, including in military equipment.
The Russian holdings are large, many of them are left over from Soviet times - and were partly revamped for the war with Ukraine.
But now there are first signs that Russia's weapons depots are slowly emptying.
OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) analysis of satellite images shows that a yawning emptiness spread in the artillery camp in the Russian city of Omsk between May 2021 and May 2023.
Apparently the stocks have not been replenished since then.
According to the platform, other tank parking areas and other camps also show a similar trend.
However, it is unclear whether the guns may have just been relocated closer to the front.
Russia's heavy losses: production limit reached, Soviet stocks are emptying
According to Kiev, the number of Russian artillery pieces eliminated in the past five days is almost 200; the information could not be verified.
According to various experts, weapons production in Russia cannot recoup what is consumed in the war.
The production limit has been reached.
Again and again there were large losses without any major territorial gains being made on the Russian side.
There have been reports of arms deliveries from North Korea to Russia, but these are said to have their flaws as cheap goods.
A few weeks ago, a production by Vladimir Putin drew attention to a modernized Soviet bomber.
“We are receiving new technology, super technology,” declared Putin after he was said to have completed a high-profile test flight.
Modernizations have also been reported on Putin's tanks, which are also becoming fewer and fewer.
The modernization of the Soviet stockpile is intended to keep weapons production going, true to the motto: quantity instead of quality.
Instead of new equipment, the old stock was probably adapted, especially recently.
And the OSINT material suggests that this tactic will soon become less important.
Warning against hasty conclusions in the Ukraine war: Russia creative in material procurement
But military expert Christian Mölling from the German Society for Foreign Policy was less certain about
ZDF
: “I think the biggest mistake we can make is to believe that what happened yesterday and the day before yesterday and last week is the way things are that it will be the same tomorrow and the day after.
The war has always shown surprises,” explained Mölling in January of this year.
He pointed to Russia's creativity in procuring new war material.
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Vladimir Putin shows no sign of a possible shortage through visits to training and production facilities.
© IMAGO/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin Pool
“Russia is largely in the initiative along this front line,” said the chief military coordinator of Ukraine aid, Major General Christian Freuding, to the
dpa
.
“For those who defend themselves, who are in an existential struggle for survival against a seemingly overwhelming opponent with a functioning arms industry behind them, with seemingly endless reserves of personnel, for them it is of course never enough,” says Freuding.
He spoke of a positive effect of support in Ukraine, but new aid deliveries must always be viewed against the background of the question “To what extent do we interfere with our own defense capability with support services?”
(lismah)