Analysts tracking the war in Ukraine report that Russian forces are increasingly relying on lighter vehicles for battlefield maneuverability to preserve their dwindling armored assets.
The shift comes as Ukraine’s Armed Forces continue to inflict heavy losses on Russian tanks and other armored combat vehicles, leading to adaptations in Russian assault tactics.
Since the full-scale invasion began, Ukraine has destroyed or damaged approximately 100,000 pieces of Russian military equipment, spanning land, air, and naval assets. Despite these heavy losses, Russian forces continue to field a significant stockpile of weaponry, which remains a decisive factor in the ongoing war.
Military experts note that modern Russia has never sustained such catastrophic losses in any prior conflict.
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, as of January 31, Russian tank losses alone have reached 9,893 units, with an average daily destruction rate of three to ten tanks.
The open-source intelligence website Oryx, which independently verifies military equipment losses, reports that Russian forces have lost a total of 11,786 armored combat vehicles, including tanks, armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), armored personnel carriers (APCs), and mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs). Of these, 8,903 have been confirmed destroyed, 368 damaged, 979 abandoned, and 1,536 captured by Ukrainian forces.
In response to these mounting losses, Russian troops are increasingly conducting assaults using civilian vehicles, ranging from passenger cars to dune buggies and even golf carts.
According to the Ukrainian military news outlet ArmyInform, this shift in tactics reflects Russia’s struggle to maintain its supply of armored vehicles. Lighter transport options, however, expose Russian personnel to greater risks, particularly in mine-laden areas, where small, unarmored vehicles provide little to no protection against explosive devices.
Previously, Russian forces employed massed armored thrusts—often described as reckless “banzai attacks”—to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses. However, with Ukraine’s extensive use of first-person view (FPV) drones dominating the battlefield, Moscow’s strategy appears to be evolving toward human-wave assaults relying on non-standard transport options. In some cases, Russian forces have even been reported using horses to traverse challenging terrain.