The command of the Russian army is resorting to the mass decommissioning of obsolete armored vehicles due to large-scale irretrievable losses of weapons and equipment in the war against Ukraine.
This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Russia transfers obsolete T-62s to the front
According to Ukrainian intelligence, after the depletion of reserves of military equipment manufactured in the 1970s, the Russian Federation began actively returning even older models into service – in particular, T-62 tanks, which were accepted into service in the early 60s.
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— The restoration of these vehicles is carried out mainly at the 103rd armored repair plant, located in the village of Atamanovka in the Zabaikalsky Krai. The delivery of T-62 tanks to the combat zone is carried out mainly from the warehouses of the Eastern Military District, — the report says.
In particular, on June 27, the GUR recorded the transfer of 21 T-62 tanks from the Eastern Military District to the European part of the Russian Federation.
They note that the technical condition of most of these tanks is unsatisfactory, since they were stored in the open air for decades and without maintenance.
The enemy is forced to use the T-62 due to an acute shortage of modern main battle tanks such as the T-90M and T-72B3M, as the Russian defense industry faces a shortage of industrial capacity and a shortage of imported high-tech components.
“In practice, T-62s are used not only as active combat units, but also as stationary firing points to strengthen defensive positions,” the GUR added.
Information about Russia massively removing Soviet T-62 tanks from storage appeared at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. And even then, experts criticized the modernization of the armor of this equipment, which does not withstand strikes from modern weapons.
According to the Oryx analytical group, as of the end of May 2025, Russian troops have lost at least 4,000 tanks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The full-scale war in Ukraine has been going on for 1,221 days.
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