Russia is having a problem with tanks | Eastern NC Now

Oryx, a site that keeps a running tally of military equipment losses in the Russian invasion of Ukraine that only counts losses that are verified with photographic evidence, says Russia has had 939 armored vehicles destroyed, 35 damaged, 229 abandoned, and 688 captured..  Those are likely to be a small part of the losses as  often in war, photographic evidence is simply not available.  There seem to be quite a number of videos on the internet of Ukrainian farmers hooking up tractors to tanks and other Russian military equipment that has run out of gas, and towing them off.

Now Russia is trying to bring replacement vehicles out of storage to replace those lost and finding that 90% of the tanks in storage are not functional.  Many have been stripped, some even missing their engines.  A more popular thing that is stolen, however, is the electronic equipment that includes precious metals.  One tank regiment commander is reported to have killed himself when he found that tank replacements were non-functional.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10655501/Ukraine-claims-Russian-tank-commander-killed-reserve-tanks-unserivcable.html

Ukraine has offered cash rewards and Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who defect and bring their equipment with them.  Ukraine is identifying the cell phone numbers used by Russian soldiers and texting the offers to them, including a million dollars for a functional fighter jet.  At least one such transaction has been documented on video where a Russian tank driver named Misha brought his tank to the spot designated by Ukraine and turned it over.  His two crew mates had deserted the Russian army, so he came out alone, and was paid $10,000 for the T72B3 main battle tank, Russia's most advanced, and which Russia had around 500 of when the invasion started.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10656603/Russian-soldier-surrenders-TANK-return-7-500-Ukrainian-citizenship.html

In one incident, a Russian brigade commander, Col Yuri Medvedev was run over by his own troops with a tank because his unit was unhappy with their heavy combat losses.  Medvedev's legs were crushed and he was later confirmed to have died in a hospital in Belarus.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10652501/Russian-commander-deliberately-run-tank-soldiers-DIED.html

(The reports above are all from the UK's largest circulation newspaper, The Daily Mail of London)