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Ladimir Putin is sending 50-year-old T-62 tanks to Ukraine, which had been discovered after losing nearly 1,000 heavily armored vehicles, Western defense chiefs say.
They noted that T-62 tanks had been removed from “deep storage” for deployment in southern Ukraine, where Russian troops were seeking to occupy occupied territory.
But aged vehicles are expected to be “especially vulnerable” to anti-tank weapons.
The decision to deploy them was said to highlight “the shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment in Russia.”
However, Putin’s forces are gaining ground in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after launching a large number of troops and equipment into attacks.
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In its latest intelligence update, the London Ministry of Defense said: “Russian ground forces continue their attempt to surround Severodonetsk and Lyschansk, recently capturing several villages northwest of Popasna.
“Russia is pushing Severodonetsk’s pocket even as Ukraine retains control of many defended sectors, denying Russia full control of the Donbass.”
He added: “The Southern Russian Forces Group (SGF) is likely to remain in charge of occupying the territory of southern Ukraine. In recent days, Russia has probably moved 50-year-old T-62 tanks since from deep storage to the area of responsibility of the SGF.
“The T-62s will almost certainly be especially vulnerable to anti-tank weapons, and their presence on the battlefield highlights the shortage of modern, combat-ready equipment in Russia.”
Earlier, a senior Washington defense official said Putin’s army had lost nearly 1,000 tanks, more than 350 pieces of artillery, more than 30 fixed-wing fighter jets and at least 50 helicopters since it began. invasion on February 24th.
But it is still believed that the Russian army has a larger number of troops and equipment and these are being deployed to gradually push back Ukrainian forces after heavy artillery bombardment.
Britain and other Western nations are embroiled in an information war with Russia over what is happening on the ground in Ukraine.
Russian forces approached Ukrainian troops surrounding the east, briefly occupying positions on the last highway of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-controlled cities before being repulsed, according to a Ukrainian official.
Three months after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has abandoned its assault on the capital Kyiv and is trying to consolidate control of the industrial region of eastern Donbas, where it has supported a separatist uprising since 2014.
Thousands of soldiers are attacking from three sides to try to encircle Ukrainian forces in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. If the two cities fell across the Siverskiy Donets River, almost the entire Donbas province of Luhansk would be under Russian control.
“Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can,” said General Oleksiy Gromov, deputy head of the main operations department of the Ukrainian General Staff.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said about 50 Russian soldiers had reached the highway and “managed to get on their feet,” even setting up a checkpoint.
“The checkpoint was broken, they were pulled back … the Russian army is not in control of the route now, but they are bombing it,” he said. It was possible for Ukrainian troops to abandon “one settlement, perhaps two. We have to win the war, not the battle, “he said.
“Clearly our boys are slowly retreating to more fortified positions; we need to contain this horde,” Gaidai added.
The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that 50 cities in Donetsk and Luhansk had been bombed with nine civilians killed.
Western military analysts see the battle for the two cities as a possible turning point in the war, now that Russia has redefined its main goal as capturing the east.
Further south, Russian troops are also reportedly gaining ground in Svitlodarsk, where Ukrainian forces withdrew earlier this week.
The city is now firmly under the control of pro-Russian fighters, who have occupied the local government building and hung a Soviet flag with a sickle and hammer on the door.
Russia’s recent gains in the Donbas follow the surrender of the Ukrainian garrison in Mariupol last week and suggest a shift in momentum after weeks in which Ukrainian forces had advanced near northeastern Kharkiv.
“Russia’s recent gains offer discouraging control over short-term expectations,” tweeted defense analyst Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies for the US-based think tank CNA.
Russian troops have broken Ukrainian lines in Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk, and are threatening to encircle Ukrainian forces, he wrote.
Adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Vadym Denisenko said in a briefing that 25 Russian battalions were trying to surround Ukrainian forces.
In his nightly video speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for stronger Western action against Russia to stop the war.
“Catastrophic events could still be stopped if the world treated the situation in Ukraine as if it were facing the same situation, if the powers were not playing with Russia but really pushing to end the war,” he said.
The head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, asked Telegram for more Western weapons, especially “weapons that allow us to strike the enemy at a great distance.”
Britain, the United States and other Western nations are sending heavier military equipment to Ukraine, although Germany has been accused of dragging its feet on shipping tanks.
Washington is even considering providing Ukraine with a rocket system that could be hundreds of miles away, and has held talks with Kyiv about the danger of escalation if it attacks Russia, diplomatic and US officials say.
“We’re worried about climbing and we still don’t want to set geographic boundaries or tie our hands too much with the things we’re giving them,” said a U.S. official.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said during a question and answer session on Twitter that “without multiple rocket launch systems, we will not be able to push them back.”
He added that if Russia calls for a ceasefire, “we will think twice, three times before agreeing.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later warned that any supply of weapons that could reach Russian territory would be “a serious step towards an unacceptable escalation.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow expects Ukraine to accept its demands in future peace talks. He wants Kyiv to recognize the Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula that Moscow seized in 2014 and the independence of the territory claimed by the separatists.
A few weeks ago, it was the Ukrainian forces that were advancing, pushing Russian troops from the outskirts of Kharkiv to the Russian border.
But it appears that Moscow halted its retreat there, retaining a strip of territory along the border and preventing Ukrainian troops from cutting off Russian supply lines running east of the city to the Donbas.
Russian bombings have killed at least nine civilians, including a five-month-old baby, and injured 17 in Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said, as Russian forces excavated and maintained control of positions in northern villages.
“It’s noisy here, but at least it’s at home,” said Maryna Karabierova, 38, as another blast could be heard nearby. He had returned to Kharkiv after fleeing to Poland and Germany before the war. “It can happen at any time, night, day: that’s what life is all about here.”
Russia did not immediately comment on the situation in Kharkiv. He has denied attacking civilians in what he calls his “special military operation” in Ukraine.