West claims Russia is "stepping down" in terms of equipment deployed in Ukraine

Due to heavy losses of military equipment since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia starts to deploy WWII-era equipment; in addition, the occupiers also have a shortage of manpower.

Source: Western officials reported this on a briefing on Tuesday, 18 April, on the condition of anonymity, reports European Pravda, with a reference to CNN

According to Western officials, there was no "large uptick in increasing equipment" on the battlefield from the Russian side. "If anything, the equipment they (the Russians – ed.) are using is the older generation."

"They started with the T-80 and T-90 [tanks], went down to T-72, and indeed, we saw the first T-55s rolled out of the refurbishment to be put into battle and the same picture across artillery pieces as well," the journalist’s sources said. 

"They're going backwards in terms of equipment," they added.

The officials also said Russia was still struggling with manpower, explaining that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was still not providing them with adequate training.

"We've seen two quite relatively small training cycles go through Belarus, but out of a force of 150,000 which they claimed were mobilised, we've probably seen maybe 15,000 which have gone for any kind of company level training," the officials said. "That's where we see the Russian force at the moment; it’s been degraded from the force that originally went into Ukraine."

In March, Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defence, emphasised that due to the heavy losses inflicted by the Ukrainian forces, Russia is forced to deploy older-generation tanks such as T-54 and T-55. 

At the same time, Lithuanian military intelligence said that Russia now has the resources to continue an intense war for two years. Despite the fact that the quality of equipment deployed is not exceptional, old machinery can still inflict heavy damage. 

The day before, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the sanctions imposed by Washington deprive Russia of equipment for waging war against Ukraine.

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