Forbes: Whole Russian Tanks Division Was Phenomenally Destroyed In Battles For Avdiivka

Such losses cannot be inflicted by conventional defence means.

The Kremlin lost almost an entire mechanized division of tanks - 214 vehicles - in an attempt to capture several square miles of destroyed and depopulated Avdiivka. This number is a tenth of the tanks that are now fighting on the territory of Ukraine.

The huge losses of the Russian Federation as of February 11, 2024 are described in an article by Forbes with reference to open-source analysis.

Before the fall of the Soviet Union a 10,000-person motor-rifle division on paper would have 220 tanks.

"Since attacking Avdiivka in early October, the Russian 2nd and 41st Combined Arms Armies have lost 214 tanks. Mostly T-72 and T-80, but also a few high-end T-90s. The Ukrainian brigades in and around Avdiivka meanwhile have lost just 18 tanks," according to Forbes.

Russian tanks losses just around Avdiivka amount to potentially more than a tenth of all the tanks Russian forces have in Ukraine.

The 12 to 1 ratio of losses that Russia suffered during the assault on Avdiivka cannot be justified by the fact that the Ukrainian military did not deploy enough tanks for defence.

In fact, Ukrainian forces have deployed tanks, including some of the best German Leopard 2A6s.

The traditional advantage of a dug-in defender over an open exposed attacker also cannot explain such huge losses of Russia.

"The Ukrainians simply outfought the Russians with mines, artillery, drones, missiles and old-fashioned rifle fire from entrenched positions. And they did it despite gradually running out of ammunition after Republicans withheld U.S. aid to Ukraine,” the newspaper writes.