It Has Cost Russia Exactly One Armored Truck to Capture 60 Square Miles of Ukraine's Sumy Oblast

The Russians are literally marching through Sumy

A Russian MRAP burning in Sumy. Ukrainian defense ministry capture

Parts of no fewer than 18 Russian regiments and brigades, each with 2,000 or more troops, have marched into northern Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast. And by “marched,” I mean literally marched.

The Russian invasion force in Sumy, tens of thousands strong, almost entirely lacks armored vehicles of any kind. “Not sure anybody noticed this, but so far [Russia] has visibly lost one MRAP in Sumy Oblast,” analyst Moklasen noted. “Everything is done either on foot or by bike and quad.”

An MRAP—a mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored truck—isn’t even particularly heavy by vehicular standards. That a single KAMAZ Asteis-70202 truck represents the heaviest Russian loss in Sumy speaks to the deepening shortage of combat vehicles in the Russian inventory as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 40th month.

It also speaks to the new doctrine Russian commanders have written in response to their new conditions. They’ve got fewer and fewer armored vehicles. But they’ve got troops and civilian-style vehicles in abundance.

So the Russians mostly march where they once rode under armor. And yet, they’re still advancing.