Russian weapons are old and failing, says military

Russian weapons recovered from the battlefield are unreliable and don’t meet modern requirements, a defence dossier reveals.

Residents look at a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Buzova village, west of Kyiv, in April. Picture: AFP

Russia’s weapons are “ineffective” and “obsolete”, with armoured vehicles and helicopters unable to withstand small arms fire and missiles that have only a 33 per cent chance of hitting their target, according to an internal Ukrainian government report.

The dossier, compiled by the country’s defence ministry and seen by The Times, claims Russian weapons recovered from the battlefield are unreliable and do not meet modern requirements.

The armoured protection of the Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter – one of Russia’s most modern – can be pierced with 7.62mm small arms, the dossier claims.

Destroyed Russian main battle tanks and armoured vehicles lay beside a road in Irpin, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

It provides imagery of the damage to one. A translated version of the document says: “Moscow calls this helicopter a ‘flying tank’ whose armoured cabin can withstand the impact of 12.7mm calibre bullets and the rest of the components are reliably protected. However, as it turned out in practice, the Ka-52 can be disabled with a 7.62mm machine gun.”

The report claims the 3M-14 Kalibr sea-based cruise missile has only a 33 per cent chance of hitting its target. About 30 per cent of the missiles used hit civilian objects.

The report adds that the Ural-63706-0010 Tornado-U truck, designed to transport weapons and military hardware, is meant to have enhanced armoured protection but has “weak protection against damage by small arms”, forcing troops on the ground to improvise with other methods.

The BMD-4M amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, which can be dropped by paratroopers to provide firepower and support, is “weakly protected even against small arms and mine fragments and artillery shells”.

A Ka-52 Alligator reconnaissance and attack helicopter. Picture: Reuters/Sergey Pivovarov

The report also says that Russia is having to suspend arms contracts with other nations, either because of sanctions or the need to replenish losses of combat equipment in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia reportedly fired 80 Grad rockets at the town of Marhanets, near a Russian-held power plant in the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine. The strikes killed 13 civilians and injured 11.

“It was a terrible night,” Valentin Reznichenko, the regional governor, wrote on Telegram yesterday, urging residents to shelter when they hear air raid sirens. He said more than 20 buildings were damaged and added: “I am begging … don’t let the Russians kill you.”

The BM-21 Grad is a multiple-launch rocket system capable of firing 40 rockets in 20 seconds. It is less precise than some of Russia’s other missile systems but can cause significant destruction.

A destroyed tank in Mariupol. Picture: AFP

Ukraine’s air force yesterday claimed nine Russian jets were destroyed in a strike on an airbase in occupied Crimea. An official said that “a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture was used” in Tuesday’s attack.

— The Group of Seven industrialised nations yesterday condemned Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and called on Moscow to immediately hand back full control of the plant to Ukraine.

The Times