The mysterious disappearance of Russian tanks, but how can this be? There are no losses they said.
This is the 22nd Central Tank Reserve Base, located at geographic coordinates 58.46468165, 41.50848361. It stands as one of the largest in terms of the number of T-80UD and other tanks.
Research conducted by OSINT specialists revealed that as of June 2021, there were approximately 700 "good" tanks at this facility, meaning tanks ready for active deployment.
February 2023: By this time, the number of tanks ready for deployment had decreased to 575. This is our starting point.
Let's make some comparisons regarding the decrease in the number of tanks since February. Photos above and below from left - spring-winter 2023. Photo below right - summer 2023. It's evident that even in the highlighted areas, the number of tanks has decreased, at least by 55 units (the red, blue, and orange rectangles in the photos). Interestingly, the pink rectangle indicates the area where tanks are in poor condition, yet there's still a decrease in the number of tanks. According to estimates, between 10 to 30 tanks were removed from the zone of tanks in poor condition.
The most significant change affected the T-80UD tanks, the quantity of which remained unchanged from 2021 until the summer of 2023. In the photo, you can see the condition of the area with T-80UD tanks as of spring-early summer 2023.
June 12, 2023: The first appearance of the brown color indicates that tanks were relocated, and places where the grass didn't grow became visible from satellites. In simple terms, there is no green color, as seen in previous photos, in the orange zone, which means there are no tanks there.
By August 8, 2023, the number of tanks had decreased even further, leaving only a few rows. It's worth closely examining the previous photos to notice the difference. The second photo shows the situation on September 13, 2023. There are fewer tanks in the highlighted squares.
As of September 23, 2023, there are not many tanks left in this area. Thus, from the 575 tanks in "good" condition on February 20, 2023, we can visually confirm the deconservation of 180-200 T-80UD tanks and up to 80 units of other tanks.
Out of the 700 tanks before the start of the war, at this moment, there are up to 300 tanks left in this storage base. Perhaps even fewer, but the quality of the images allows us to track changes only in areas where tanks are clustered, it's almost impossible to spot tanks that stay alone.
All of this points to significant losses incurred by the occupiers in Ukraine. This material once again prompts us to consider the value of investing in the Ukrainian army and the invaluable contribution made by Ukrainians to the victory of democracy over the growing threat posed by authoritarian states. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have essentially dismantled the world's second-largest army. At this point, all that's left for Russians is to frantically extract the remnants of "Soviet greatness" from storage to avoid a complete loss of combat capability.
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In Yekaterinburg, Russian security forces (OMON, police) carried out a raid during which several Azerbaijani citizens were killed and dozens detained. The incident sparked a strong reaction from both Azerbaijani officials and the public.
1/6
Azerbaijan’s state TV aired an unusually harsh critique of the Kremlin, accusing Russia of clinging to an outdated imperial mindset and treating other nationalities as second-class citizens. The broadcast drew historical parallels with Stalinist repression and criticized Moscow for undermining Azerbaijan’s sovereignty.
2/6
The anchor stated that for decades Russia blocked a resolution to the Karabakh issue and is now showing force against Azerbaijanis inside its own borders.
3/6
❗️Trump’s peace plan, which the U.S. reportedly proposed recently in Paris, has surfaced. The text was published by Reuters.
Ceasefire:
permanent, with both sides immediately starting technical implementation.
Security guarantees for Ukraine:
Ukraine would be banned from joining NATO, but allowed to join the EU. Guaranteeing countries would include European states and any willing non-European nations.
@TimothyDSnyder, one of the most respected historians of our time, has broken down this catastrophe into five failures that will send shockwaves across the world:
1. Failure of Hospitality
The U.S. president and vice president did not welcome their ally in war; instead, they ambushed him. No warmth, no respect, no gratitude - only cold cruelty. Given the recent agreement, it was expected that Zelensky would not be present, but it is still shocking.
2. Failure of Decency
Trump and Vance barked at and humiliated Zelensky, a man representing a nation fighting for survival. Instead of standing on the side of democracy, they repeated Kremlin talking points and acted as Putin’s messengers.
Just writing that down feels weird.
It feels impossible that it has been 3 years since I watched Putin announce Russia's full scale invasion on TV, and saw the missiles starting to hit, as tanks and troops crossed the border.
On one hand, it feels like it's been much, much longer and on the other hand, it feels like the blink of an eye. I remember that when this full scale invasion started, no one gave Ukraine a chance. Virtually everyone, especially the analysts, thought it was a foregone conclusion that Ukraine's military would be defeated, and it would happen quickly.
And the early minutes, hours and days were pure chaos. (1/9)
(2/9)
I remember the video from Hostomel, where the CNN reporter Matthew Chance found himself in the midst of a russian VDV assault on the airport.
I remember the stories of territorial defense units consisting of teachers, mechanics and other ordinary men taking on russia's "best" soldiers and battling them out of their towns, like Voznesensk.
I remember seeing videos of Ukrainians courageously standing up to the invaders, throwing sunflowers at them, or literally standing in front of their tanks.
Ukrainians did everything they could to keep the russians out. Those who could fight, they fought like hell, and those who couldn't did everything else they could to stop the russian invasion like it was a cancer trying to take over their body.
(3/9)
And the world's opinion quickly changed. The bravery of the Ukrainian people inspired leader after leader to shift their perspective, adjust their policy and start aggressively supporting Ukraine. Even countries like Germany, which was staunchly against providing weapons, opened their stocks and started to help the Ukrainian Army do the things they needed to do so that ordinary people could exist.
Ukraine began to beat back the russians and even drove them out in some circumstances, like in Kyiv.
Of course, the russians could not acknowledge that they were losing, and made idiotic statements saying that they did not retreat from Kyiv, but it was a gesture of goodwill. Yes, a gesture of goodwill while they bombed children's hospitals in other parts of Ukraine, and destroyed entire cities like Mariupol.
On February 12, 2015, following the battles for Donetsk Airport and Ukraine’s heavy losses in Debaltseve, the "Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements" was signed. This was the second document aimed at stopping Russian aggression and resolving the conflict in Donbas.
Ukraine fulfilled key provisions of the agreements: it declared a ceasefire, initiated prisoner exchanges, and passed a law granting special status to Donbas. Meanwhile, Russia continued supplying weapons to militants, blocking OSCE monitoring, and sending fake “humanitarian convoys.”
For seven years, negotiations under the Minsk format allowed the Kremlin to stall for time, and in February 2022, Russia announced that the agreements "no longer existed" - just two days before launching its full-scale invasion.