Russia Captured One Of Ukraine's Dutch APCs, Rode It Back Into Battle
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A destroyed YPR-765 in Russian service.
In 1977, a consortium of Dutch companies led by U.S. firm FMC began building the first of more than 2,000 YPR-765 tracked armored personnel carriers for the Dutch army.
Thirty-five years later, the Dutch retired the last of the 15-ton, 10-person APCs. And 10 years after that, The Netherlands pledged the first of 269 surplus YPR-765s to Ukraine.
In the 29 months since Russia widened its war on Ukraine, Russian troops have captured at least five intact YPR-765s. And on or shortly before Friday, the Russians rode one of their ex-Dutch, ex-Ukrainian APCs back into battle in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.
Ukrainian forces hit the YPR-765, burning it and killing at least two Russians. A Ukrainian drone observed the gruesome aftermath.
Besides being an historical oddity with a storied past, the Russian-operated YPR-765 is yet another data point in one of the most important trends as Russia's wider war on Ukraine grinds into its third year: the Russians are running out of armored vehicles. It's not for no reason that they had to repurpose a captured Dutch vehicle from the late 1970s.
The Russian military went to war in Ukraine in early 2022 with around 11,000 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers—the main vehicles for transporting infantry into battle and supporting them with gunfire.
On the drone-infested, artillery-peppered battlefields in Ukraine, IFVs and APCs are arguably more important than tanks. Which is why, early in the wider war, Carnegie Endowment analyst Michael Kofman warned that "the main Russian shortfall in armored vehicles is not in tanks, but in IFVs."
That shortfall has gotten worse and worse as the war has ground on. In 29 months, the Russians have lost—destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured—no fewer than 6,500 IFVs and APCs.
To make the good the losses and equip new units, Russian industry has produced maybe a couple of thousand new vehicles—and also retrieved from long-term storage as many as 7,000 old vehicles.
But the storage sites are becoming increasingly bare. In December, analysts scoured satellite imagery and concluded that stocks of BTR-60/70/80 wheeled APCs are down 30 percent. Nearly 40 percent of BMP tracked IFVs are gone. Just 15 percent of MT-LB armored tractors are left.
Vehicle losses, and the withdrawal of old vehicles from storage, have accelerated since December. Worse for the Russians: many of the vehicles remaining in storage are so badly rusted after decades of exposure to rain and snow that they're useless as anything but scrap.
The result of this complicated math is that Russian regiments and brigades are running low on armored vehicles. They've compensated by using—and losing—more Chinese-made golf carts and Chinese and Belarusian motor bikes.
And if that one YPR-765 that showed up on the Russian side of the war in Donetsk is any indication, they're also compensating by rolling into battle in captured Ukrainian vehicles.
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And they all died!
I don't get the exclamation mark. It really sucks to be a chess piece.
MAGA are being Putin's Useful Idiots so technically they are Putin's pawns now. Since Speaker Mike Johnson and the gop have finally appropriated the funds Ukraine has been able to finally fight back. Russian soldiers should revolt against being used as pawns too!
Soldier. It sucks to be a soldier. None of them need you as a cheerleader for either side. Their goal is getting through the next five minutes. Nobody needs your political generalizations, either.
"Nobody needs your political generalizations, either.".
Some people have little or nothing more to offer.
I am still free to cheerlead for Ukraine against Putin's Russia!
Am I not? The Free World is united. Ukraine is finally winning!
America is winning. The Free World is winning. Who is losing?
And vaguely insulting "Some People" comments are this deep...
If you believe that, then by all means feel free to flag my comment.
Why do you consider the ‘Muddy Waters’ moniker as insulting?
Cut ‘n paste isn’t as easy for some as it seems.
for some there are 'muddy waters deep', as opposed to the depths that most will never sea, but I B leave U knew this, so for me, another swing, and a miss, cause igknorantzrulz is sometimes bliss, for those who believe they be rul;ing
When comments have all the depth and clarity of mud puddles...
How about instead of personal sniping actually contributing?
Sorry, I'm not into silly meaningless memes.
Then what is your point regarding the article other than vaguely dissing me? So far you haven't addressed the topic at all
Bullshit Ed! There were no memes at all until you came onto my seeded article to take a completely gratuitous off topic dig at me?
It is right up there ^ for everyone to see, for fuck sake, fella!
You asked for The Meme. You got The Meme. Do you get it?
We all see, "Some people have little or nothing more to offer".
MAGA believe this shit...