Russia's war on Western weapons: Facts vs. propaganda fiction

Russian propaganda celebrates enthusiastically every time a Western tank is destroyed. Kremlin trolls quickly latch onto any narratives in the media about the supposedly flawed and overrated American Abrams, German Leopards, Polish Krabs, and unreliable F-16 fighters, while emphasizing the excellent quality of their own equipment.

While trolls and tabloid press focus on the alleged weaknesses of Western equipment, claiming it stands no chance against the latest Russian technology, their experts’ statements reveal a fixation on the weapons used by Ukraine and disdain for its soldiers. This theme becomes a primary weapon of propaganda.

"The Abrams proved tough not only for the Russian army but also for Ukrainian tank crews, who never got used to the 'miracle technology'," wrote Viktor Sokirko, a journalist for Argumenty i Fakty.

"Western equipment, which the Ukrainian army spoke of so enthusiastically, turned out to be a foreign body in the Armed Forces of Ukraine," wrote military expert Borys Dziereliewski. "There were many instances where Ukrainian fighters simply abandoned unused Javelins and Stingers, not understanding which way to point 'that thing'," he added.

Propagandists agree on one thing: Russian soldiers systematically destroy Western equipment. Only the reasons they provide for the losses differ.

Ukraine received 31 Abrams M1A1 SA tanks from the United States. These are not the newest versions but are models several years old. The Leopard tanks provided by European allies are even older versions. Ukrainians received 40 Leopard 2A4s, as well as 21 in the 2A6 version and ten of the Swedish version Stridsvagn 122.

Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine lost at least 20 Abrams and 50 Leopards. According to Kremlin trolls, all were simply destroyed.

The truth, however, is somewhat different. War losses are categorized into irrecoverable and recoverable. In the latter case, the focus is on the time needed for the evacuation and repair of vehicles.

In reality, out of the 14 Abrams that were destroyed, damaged, or abandoned by Russia, only five were irrecoverably lost, including one that was completely burned, captured, and transported to Moscow. Nine Abrams were damaged and abandoned, meaning that after evacuation from the battlefield and repairs, they can return to front-line units.

Ukraine lost about 40 Leopards, of which only one-third were irrecoverable. The remaining damaged vehicles were repaired and have already returned to the front.

This does not prevent the Kremlin from claiming that the Russian army destroyed significantly more, which is not unusual during wars as it raises the morale of their society. As an example, during the Battle of Britain, Allied pilots were credited with about 30% more shootdowns than occurred. On September 15, 1940, the actual number was exaggerated by more than 50%.

However, this was still a relatively small exaggeration. In the Battle of Kursk, the Soviets claimed to have shot down aircraft numbers 1500% higher than what the Germans actually lost. Current Russian propaganda is not yet that creative, as the losses among Ukrainian F-16s were only exaggerated by 60%.

The first F-16 was allegedly shot down by the Russians over Bakhmut in May 2023, more than a year before these fighters arrived in Ukrainian skies. In December, another was supposedly downed. Shortly after, Kremlin experts claimed it was just a matter of time before all transferred aircraft would be shot down. So far, they have not succeeded; the only loss occurred without the adversary’s involvement.

For this reason, Russians have to shoot down fighters at least in exaggerated reports. They use genuine photos of aircraft incidents. In May 2023, a photograph of a Thai F-16, which skidded off the runway in 2015 due to pilot error, was used for this purpose.

Recently, the Russian embassy in South Africa used a photo of a plane destroyed in an accident in California in 2019. Russian propagandists simply pasted the Ukrainian coat of arms on the vertical stabilizer using graphic software. However, this lie was quickly uncovered.

Russian propaganda is accurate in one aspect: Ukrainian soldiers are insufficiently trained, and the actual losses of Western arms resulted primarily from adopting flawed tactics.

In the first instance, this led to the loss of Leopards during last year's counter-offensive in Zaporizhzhia. In the second, the loss of Abrams, which were abandoned by inexperienced crews in Donbas. Or rather, crews that had previous experience with Soviet-made tanks, where crew survivability was not a priority.

This likely stems from the experience of tankers who previously served on tanks unable to withstand even slightly stronger fire. This led to crews often abandoning equipment out of fear for their lives, even in the case of a single hit. For this reason, it can be assumed that Ukraine will lose a few more Leopards or Abrams in a similar fashion.