Russian troops are leaving behind heavy weapons, including T-90 tanks that Russia counts among its best main battle tanks, and the Ukrainian military is putting them back into the fight.
"Thanks to the generosity of the Russian Federation, the first batches of new T-90A tanks entered into service with the U.S. Army," the Ukrainian defense ministry said on social media.
The T-90, a modern weapon born out of a T-72 modernization program in the final years of the Soviet Union, is one of the most advanced tanks in its arsenal, but even with capable tanks, Russian armor forces have faced setbacks.
Russian forces have lost a lot of modern equipment during the war in Ukranian and have had to pull old and obsolete tanks from storage. The T-72 is the successor to the T-62 and can be seen in some museums.
Russia has lost over 7,000 vehicles and other heavy weaponry since invading Ukraine in February, according to an analysis by Oryx. The equipment that's been destroyed, damaged, captured, or abandoned is included.
Over 500 tanks have been captured or abandoned as a result of Russia's loss of 1,320 tanks. The T-90A and T-90M tanks have losses.
The T-90M, which is an upgraded version of the T-90A, could provide valuable insight into Russia's advanced military technology, which Russian President Vladimir Putin would probably prefer remain in Russian hands.
Russian forces are leaving behind other weapons in the face of the Ukrainians. Ukraine's ability to handle it all has been overwhelmed by Moscow's abandonment of mountains of high value weaponry.
Western countries continue to provide military assistance and security packages to the Ukrainians even though the Kremlin continues to threaten against them.
The Russian military's inability to destroy some of its vehicles when it retreats is another sign of disfunction on the battlefield, and seems to suggest that there's either little to no procedures in place or that they had to flee quickly.
The way Russian forces have retreated seems to vary, according to the defense ministry.
Some units retreated in relatively good order and under control, while others fled in apparent panic.
Since early September, when Ukrainian forces launched counteroffensives along the war's eastern and southern fronts, the retreat of Russian forces has been a recurring theme. Moscow's military setbacks have forced Putin to take a number of escalatory steps.
Russian forces launched several missile and suicide drone attacks on targets across Ukraine in the past few days. NATO and the US are rushing to give Ukraine air defense systems.
"Ukraine doesn't want soldiers from other countries." The Ukrainians want to fight for their country. "All they ask for is the means to do it," said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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