Ukraine Claims Disabled 509 Moscow Tanks, Russia's Major Armor Manufacturer Called Out Of Spare Parts

Tank Rusia terperangkap di jembatan yang dihancurkan di Ukraina. (Wikimedia Commons / mvs.gov.ua / Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The sanctions imposed on Russia to cripple its economy may start to hurt its military capabilities.

The country's main armored vehicle manufacturer appears to have run out of spare parts for making and repairing tanks, according to a Facebook post by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Citing "available information", it was reported that state-owned company Uralvagonzavod, which makes tanks like the T-72B3, had to temporarily stop production at Nizhny Tagil.

In addition to Uralvagonzavod, one of the world's largest tank manufacturers with a reported 30.000 employees last year, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant is also running out of foreign-made spare parts.

"The specified companies specialize in the manufacture and repair of tanks, as well as other armored equipment required by the armed forces of the Russian Federation," the General Staff wrote in its Facebook post, quoted from Fortune, March 23.

Western allies, including the United States and the European Union, have ordered a complete halt to exports of certain components such as microchips to Russia as part of a sanctions escalation package.

The so-called dual-use goods have been banned, as they can be used for both military and civilian purposes.

"Our goal is to reduce the capacity of the Kremlin to wage war against its neighbors," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen explained earlier this month.

This may be effective, halting the manufacture and repair of the T-72B3, as well as the more advanced but fewer T-80 and T-90, could stifle Russia's efforts to continue its advance across war-torn Ukraine.

Over the past 27 days since Putin's invasion, Russian tank lines have been one of the main targets of drone strikes by Ukraine's Bayraktar TB2 fleet.

They also met stiff resistance from Ukrainian infantry personnel who used shoulder-launched Javelin missiles. As well as next-generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAW) that can destroy or at least disable tracked vehicles.

On Monday, the General Staff claimed Ukrainian forces had obliterated 509 tanks in total, an estimate shared by Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, former commander of the US Army Europe.

Several tanks, either abandoned or out of fuel, were even caught being carried away by Ukrainian farmers driving tractors.

However, developments in Russia are extremely difficult to independently verify with any degree of certainty, given Putin's grip on the media.

In a potentially accidental leak on Monday, a pro-Kremlin website published data from the Defense Ministry citing nearly 9.900 Russians killed and more than 16.000 injured before the post was quickly taken down.