Armoring up: Ukraine has captured 440 Russian tanks -- so far

But the Ukrainians have been gaining more than just land. At every turn of the Ukrainian counteroffensives, the Russian forces have retreated, abandoning hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery pieces, and other weapon systems behind.

Both the Russian and Ukrainian military use the same basic Soviet/Russian weapon systems. Much like the German Wehrmacht in the Second World War would feed some of its offensives with fuel captured at Allied logistical hubs, the Ukrainian forces are feeding their counteroffensives with main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles they capture from the Russians. Besides potential manpower losses, it doesn’t matter if a Ukrainian unit loses three T-72 tanks during an assault against a Russian-held village if it captures seven T-80 tanks after the battle. …

“Re-purposed captured Russian equipment now makes up a large proportion of Ukraine’s military hardware. Ukraine has likely captured at least 440 Russian Main Battle Tanks, and around 650 other armoured vehicles since the invasion. Over half of Ukraine’s currently fielded tank fleet potentially consists of captured vehicles,” the British Military Intelligence assessed in its latest estimate of the war.