Russian Tanks Already Rusting in Ukraine, Photo Shows

An image of the rusting remains of two Russian tanks lying across a Ukrainian road stand testament to the growing losses of military vehicles suffered by Moscow's forces nearly six weeks into the war.

The picture tweeted by Britain's ITV News shows the tanks perpendicular to the direction of the road with a Ukrainian flag attached to the side of one of the vehicles.

"I took this photo north west of Kyiv yesterday. Russian tanks already rusting and now a monument to Ukraine's resistance," tweeted ITV News correspondent Dan Rivers.

The tweet sparked a thread in which some users did point out that the tanks had apparently been hit and burned, and that steel oxidizes (rusts) much quickly when heated.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's defense ministry for comment.

Images of burning Russian tanks widely shared on social media along with other military vehicles either abandoned or destroyed help create a public relations narrative for Kyiv that its forces have been effectively repelling the invaders since the war started on February 24.

Figures vary, but from open-source data alone drawing on images and videos shared online, showed that Russia has lost 427 tanks, according to the latest numbers from Oryx, a team of weapons trackers.

Among these, 203 have been destroyed, six have been damaged, 42 have been abandoned and 176 have been captured.

Oryx said Russia has access to 12,240 tanks.

It also said that Ukraine has lost over 90 tanks—37 of which have been destroyed, two damaged, nine abandoned and 44 captured.

Russian forces have been relying on the older T-72 main tanks, especially A, B and B3 variants which make up most of the vehicle losses so far, according to the Indian Defense Research Wing (IDRW).

On March 30, Ukrainian armed forces posted on Telegram that its 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade had destroyed a T-72 battle tank of the Russian army, with images of the aftermath clearly visible.

Ukraine is relying on American-made Javelin anti-tank weapons as well as the Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapons (NLAWs) which are assembled lighter, cheaper and optimized for use in the relatively short-range fights.

"The very presence of modern portable anti-tank missile systems such as the Javelin or NLAW in the Armed Forces causes panic among Russians," the Ukrainian defense ministry said in its post next to the destroyed tank.

"If a missile hits a tank, armored personnel carrier, infantry fighting vehicle or other armored vehicle, the crew and landing party have no chance of surviving," the post added.