ISW: Russia's Military Depots Empty

But Putin won't turn the economy on a war footing.

Despite the fact that satellite data shows the depletion of armoured vehicles in Russian warehouses, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not transfer the economy of the aggressor state on a war footing. This is stated in a report by the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) dated May 7, 2024.

"Russia is now supporting its military efforts mainly through stockpile in the warehouses, rather than through large-scale production of new vehicles and certain types of weapons," the report said.

The institute's analysts recalled a Newsweek publication that said satellite images showed that the number of Russian equipment depots had significantly decreased from pre-war levels by almost 32 per cent: from 15,152 in 2021 to 10,389 as of May 2024.

In particular, Russia has removed armoured fighting vehicles from its depots - 922 singles remain, out of a pre-war total of 2,527. In addition, there are fewer in storage:

BMD tracked infantry fighting vehicles (244 out of 637 pre-war ones remained);

armoured personnel carriers (APCs) BTR-50 (52 out of 125 pre-war);

new models of BTR-60, 70 and 80 (2,605 of the pre-war stock of 3,313 remaining).

"About half of the artillery systems remaining at this base are likely unusable due to improper storage and the fact that many of them are World War II artillery systems that are incompatible with modern ammunition," the report said.

ISW explains that Russia is relying on huge stocks of Soviet-era hardware to sustain operations and casualties in Ukraine at a level far higher than Russia's current defence stockpile can support.

"Russia is likely to attempt to provide its units adequately with supplies in the long term without shifting Russia's economy to a war footing, a step that Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far tried to avoid," analysts at the US institute said.