How many tanks do Ukraine and Russia currently possess, and how have their inventories changed since 2022?
Executive summary
Public reporting and OSINT show large but uncertain changes in Russian and Ukrainian tank inventories since February 2022: multiple sources report Russia suffering thousands of tank losses (Reuters: “more than 3,000” lost) while still drawing on large cold‑storage reserves [1]; some open‑source tallies put cumulative Russian tank losses above 11,000 but these combine both sides and vary by tracker [2] [3]. Ukrainian pre‑war active tank counts were roughly 800–900 and Ukraine has both lost and received tanks from Western suppliers, making its current total hard to pin down from available reporting [4] [5].
1. What the reporting agrees on: heavy attrition and big uncertainties
Multiple outlets and OSINT groups concur that the war has produced very heavy tank attrition and that baseline inventories have shifted dramatically since early 2022: Reuters reported Russia lost “more than 3,000 tanks” early in 2024 even while retaining large numbers in storage [1]; open‑source aggregation sites and trackers continue to publish much larger cumulative loss figures [2] [3], but methodologies and coverage differ and therefore absolute totals are disputed [2].
2. Russia’s picture: big losses, active refurbishment and selective production
Analysts say Russia has drawn heavily on stored Soviet‑era stocks and refurbished older types (T‑72, T‑62, T‑54/55) to replace battlefield losses, while increasing production of modern types like the T‑90M—yet production and quality constraints remain [1] [6] [7]. ISW and OSINT reporting note Russia has been refurbishing hundreds of older tanks and that depot inventories are visibly shrinking [8] [7]; OSINT specialists warn reserves have fallen but are “far from exhausted,” indicating Russia still maintains a meaningful capacity to replace losses in the near term [9].
3. Numbers divergence: “thousands lost” vs. “reserves drawn down”
Different trackers and articles provide different totals. Reuters and IISS framed Russia’s losses in the low‑thousands and stressed large storage stocks remain [1]. By contrast, cumulative tallies published by casualty trackers list much larger totals—e.g., a running figure of 11,368 tanks lost appears in some aggregator and media briefings [2] [3]—but these figures typically aggregate months of battlefield losses and may mix destroyed, captured, or otherwise non‑operational vehicles and are not an official Russian count [2].
4. Ukraine’s tank inventory: reduced, modernizing, and supplemented by allies
Ukraine began the war with a mostly Soviet‑era fleet — commonly estimated around 800–900 tanks active pre‑invasion — and has both lost tanks in combat and received Western tanks over time [4] [5]. Wikipedia and Oryx‑style counts note Ukrainian losses (for example, Oryx reported substantial Ukrainian tank losses and captures through mid‑2025) while other sources emphasize Western deliveries and upgrades have materially changed Ukraine’s qualitative tank mix [4] [5].
5. How to read “counts” in wartime: definitions matter
Differences in reported totals reflect varying definitions: “lost” can include destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured vehicles; “available” or “in reserve” can mean anything from fully mission‑capable to badly degraded hulls awaiting refurbishment [2] [7]. ISW and OSINT explicitly caution that satellite‑depot counts and factory production goals are indicative but aspirational and not precise inventories [7] [9].
6. Competing interpretations and strategic implications
Some analysts argue Russia’s attrition will soon force a strategic pause because stocks are depleting (examples in The National Interest and Euromaidan Press), while other OSINT and think‑tank reporting emphasize that refurbishments and stepped‑up production keep Russia far from “out of tanks” [10] [11] [9]. ISW documents internal Russian efforts to modernize and ramp up production long‑term [7], showing Moscow’s explicit intent to replenish its armored force even while reserves are being drawn down.
7. What available sources do not settle
Available sources do not provide a single authoritative, current count of operational tanks for either side; there is no Russian government full‑inventory release and public trackers use differing methodologies, so a precise “currently possess” number cannot be confirmed from the provided reporting (not found in current reporting). Analysts and OSINT should be read together: loss tallies show scale, depot imagery shows trends, and industry plans show intent to rebuild [1] [9] [7].
Bottom line: reporting consistently documents major Russian losses and ongoing Russian refurbishment/production efforts, while Ukraine’s tank fleet has both declined in quantity and improved in quality through Western deliveries; exact, current totals are contested across sources and depend on definitions and methodology [1] [4] [9] [7] [2].