Why Russia’s 12 thousand tanks do not matter in Ukraine?
Farhang Faraydoon Namdar
Farhang is opinion editor at Kurdsat News. His works have been published in many prominent international and local media.
Despite maintaining twice as many tanks as the United States does, the Russian army has failed to defeat Ukraine's relatively smaller army
Russia has failed to defeat the Ukrainian army despite maintaining a whopping 22 thousand armored vehicles, twice as many as United States’ which possesses the largest military in the world.
What role does a tank play in battle? It is essentially a mobile infantry and artillery combined. Most Russian tanks date back to the soviet era. Although some of its T-72, T-80, AND T-90 tanks have been upgraded, most Russian tanks date back to the 1970s and 1980s. Only a few of Moscow’s cutting-edge T-14s have rolled into service. As such, its tanks cannot do what they are expected to do.
The Kremlin knows that nukes are their best deterrent rather than their 22 thousand strong armored vehicle arsenal. It explains the Kremlin’s insistence on using nuclear weapons if there was an existential threat to Russia.
Russian tanks have suffered one of the heavy losses in recent history, with almost 600 tanks destroyed.
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