Ukraine’s Leopard 2 tanks are surprisingly resilient

Kyiv has lost a surprisingly small number of Leopard 2 tanks in the thirteen weeks since Ukraine launched its long-await counter-offensive to recapture the occupied territories.

Recent Forbes reporting revealed Ukraine has only lost five of its seventy-one Leopard 2 tanks based on visual loss statistics from Dutch open-source intelligence firm Oryx. 

Oryx has been counting both Russian and Ukrainian losses in the conflict ever since the Kremlin invaded and only confirms a loss when there is picture or video documentation. 

Several more Leopard 2 tanks have suffered serious damage according to Forbes but it isn’t a problem that has been keeping the all-too-important weapons out of the fight. 

At least ten German-made Leopard 2 tanks have been damaged since Ukraine went on the counter-offensive and most have been sent to repair facilities in Poland or Germany.  

Forbes journalist David Axe explained that the toughness of Germany’s Leopard 2 tank meant that it could withstand a serious amount of damage before it would need repairs. 

This has allowed Ukrainian forces to use the machines in their brutal battles in the south and quickly send the tanks for repairs in order to have them back for the next big push. 

“The fundamental toughness of the 69-ton Leopard 2 means tanks might take damage, visit a repair depot, return to the fighting then again take damage,” Axe explained. 

Battle-damaged tanks would then head out for repairs again. “So on and so forth,” Axe said before remarking that the Leopard 2 tank “lends itself to recycling.”

The toughness of the Leopard 2 doesn’t just benefit Ukraine's ability to keep the tanks on hand but also helps to keep the crews inside the vehicles alive to fight another day. 

Axe noted in his report that the crews of all five of the destroyed Leopard 2 tanks were able to survive their incidences and escape before the machines “burned or exploded.” 

Photo Credit: Twitter @DefenceU

This saved the lives of twenty soldiers and the institutional knowledge they carried with them after learning to use the Leopard 2 and fight with it in real combat circumstances. 

Russia claimed to have destroyed its first Leopard 2 at the beginning of June during an attack by Ukrainian forces around the area of Novopokrovka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. 

Video footage released by the Russian Ministry of Defense showed the tank on fire in a field surrounded by other vehicles with ordinances all around Business Insider reported. 

Ukraine lost another three Leopard 2 tanks during a disastrous attack across a minefield south of Mala Tokmachka according to a separate Forbes report by Axe on June 8th. 

However, since those early losses, Ukraine has only lost one more Leopard 2 and it is a testament to the quality of the vehicle's construction that more haven't been destroyed.