Russian Invasion Force Now "Degraded" In Weaponry, Troop Quality

The Russians have lots of old equipment but cannot build new tanks, armor, missiles and other crucial weaponry. 

More importantly, because so many of their experienced soldiers, especially officers, have been killed, wounded or are still serving in Ukraine, Russia has not been able to train new recruits, causing the capability of its forces to degrade significantly. JL

Vasco Cotovio and Max Foster report in CNN:

Russia is "going backwards" with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, (as) Moscow deploy tanks originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. (And) Russia is still struggling with manpower. Despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was still not providing them with adequate training. " Out of a force of 150,000 which were mobilized, we've seen maybe 15,000 which have gone for any kind of company level training. The Russian force at the moment has been degraded from the force that originally went into Ukraine.”

Russia is "going backwards" with the equipment it is using in Ukraine, Western officials said, explaining they’ve seen Moscow deploy tanks originally built after World War II while it struggles to replenish stocks of lost armored vehicles. 

Officials said during a briefing on Tuesday they hadn't seen "a large uptick in increasing equipment."

"If anything, the equipment they [the Russians] are using is older generation," they said, adding Moscow had been increasingly relying on older models of tanks in the war. 

"They started with the T-80 and T-90 [tanks], went down to T-72, and indeed, we saw the first T-55s rolled out of the refurbishment to be put into battle and the same picture across artillery pieces as well," the officials said.

The T-90 was first introduced in 1992, the T-80 in 1976, while the T-72 came into service in 1972 and the T-55 after World War II in 1948.

"They're going backwards in terms of equipment," they added.

The officials also said Russia was still struggling with manpower, explaining that despite being able to muster large numbers of personnel, Moscow was still not providing them with adequate training. 

“We've seen two quite relatively small training cycles go through Belarus, but out of a force of 150,000 which they claimed were mobilized, we've probably seen maybe 15,000 which have gone for any kind of company level training,” the officials said. “That's where we see the Russian force at the moment; it’s been degraded from the force that originally went into Ukraine.”