Russia refurbishes outdated tanks to replace 3,000 lost in Ukraine, research center says

Seven people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone attack on a gas station in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday. Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks in Ukraine - the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory - but has enough lower-quality armored vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research center said on Tuesday. Ukraine has also suffered heavy losses since Russia invaded in February 2022, but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said. Even after the loss of so many tanks - including an estimated 1,120 in the past year - Russia still has about twice as many available for combat as Ukraine, according to the IISS's annual Military Balance, a key research tool for defense analysts. Henry Boyd, the institute's senior fellow for military capability, said Russia had been roughly "breaking even" in terms of replacements.