The Ukrainian Army has been assessed to have misplaced 87 p.c of its M1A1 Abrams foremost battle tanks, with 27 of the 31 autos delivered by america in late 2023 having been destroyed or captured since they started to be utilised for frontline operations in February 2024. By late August 2024 losses had been estimated at shut to 2 third of the fleet at 20 of the 31 tanks, with subsequent footage over the next 9 months confirming the losses of seven extra. On September 1 footage confirmed critical harm to an Abrams tank, which was filmed being captured and towed away by Russian forces close to the strategically positioned city of Avdiivka alongside a German-supplied Leopard 2A6 tank. Later that week new footage confirmed the destruction of two Abrams tanks, the primary close to the village of Volchye within the Pokrovsk path, and the second close to the settlement of Berdychi. Lower than every week afterward September 14, a picture confirmed that one other Abrams tank had been disabled and secured. This introduced whole estimated losses to 24 tanks, leaving simply seven in service.
With the fleet significantly depleted, footage and pictures of Abrams tanks within the Ukrainian theatre grew to become more and more scarce after September 2024. However, on October 28 photos confirmed that Russian Army items had captured a Ukrainian Army Abrams tank utilized by the forty seventh Mechanised Brigade close to town of Pokrovsk. Subsequently in June 2025, footage confirmed two of the Ukrainian Army’s final remaining Abrams tanks being captured and towed away by Russian Army items close to the frontlines within the Sumy area, after the autos had been deserted comparatively intact. This introduced estimated losses to 27 tanks, though Russian authorities sources have cited a decrease determine of 26. Whereas it stays unsure how lots of the Abrams tanks captured had been subsequently taken again to Russia, and in what state a few of them had been in, there stays a big risk that Russia now has extra operable Abrams tanks in its possession that the Ukrainian Army.
The Abrams tank was introduced into service within the U.S. Army in 1980, with its design having been closely influenced by that of the Soviet T-64 which had entered service 16 years prior, and had been broadly acknowledged within the West to supply large superiority. The Abrams offered an incredible leap in functionality over the previous M60 that had outfitted essentially the most succesful U.S. Army and Marine items. The most recent variants of the Abrams in manufacturing at present are thought of essentially the most succesful foremost battle tanks within the Western world, with the automobile standing out for its sheer dimension because the heaviest tank class on the earth. Operations in Ukraine symbolize the Abrams’ first excessive depth fight towards a peer degree state adversary, with a mixture of the intense operational difficulties it has had, and the acute losses suffered, having resulted in extremely crucial assessments of its capabilities.
A lot of the Abrams tanks filmed being destroyed or in any other case neutralised had been focused by guided artillery or by single use ‘kamikaze’ drones, though one was confirmed to have been destroyed by a Russian T-72B3 tank after the 2 exchanged hearth close to Avdiivka. The losses confronted have induced appreciable concern amongst NATO members, and significantly Poland which plans to subject a fleet of 366 of the autos. With the Abrams’ survivability within the Ukrainian theatre more and more known as to query, one unnamed defence official chatting with the Australian Broadcasting Company in Could said that on the premise of this concern, relating to the potential for additional Abrams deliveries being made: “We’re beginning to doubt if the Ukrainians really need these autos — the tank roof is the weakest level of the Abrams and it is a drone battle.” In December 2024 U.S. Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan concluded that the tanks had confirmed to not be helpful and didn’t have the specified impression within the theatre. “Relating to Abrams tanks, we despatched Abrams tanks to Ukraine… These Abrams tank items are literally undermanned as a result of it’s not essentially the most helpful piece of apparatus for them on this struggle,” he said.
