How Many Tanks Have Ukraine?

Ukraine has about 800 or more heavy tanks and thousands of other armoured vehicles protecting and transporting a regular force of about 200,000.

These are far better trained troops than in 2014. They have good leadership, especially in the crucial non-commissioned officer cadre – the backbone of any army.

But this is only part of the story. Most of their armour and equipment is relatively old and, although factories have been turning out modernised versions of old models such as the T72 tank, these provide little in the way of effective opposition to the far more modern Russian tanks and armoured vehicles – some of which are equal or superior to the best Nato stock.

Ukraine’s air force possesses a considerable fleet of cold war-era aircraft and personnel are well-organised and trained.

But Russia has configured its “aerospace forces” to gain and maintain crucial control of the air using, among other systems, the fearsome S400 long-range anti-aircraft missiles.

These systems give the most advanced Nato air forces serious pause for thought, let alone the 1990s vintage fighters and bombers of Ukraine.

Many Ukrainians have a basic awareness of weapon handling – the several hundred thousand reservists called up as Russia invaded certainly do.

They may be light on modern tanks and sophisticated weaponry, but may well have the edge in the moral and conceptual domains.