14:39 19-08-2025

Ukraine Runs Out of Soviet Arms, Now Relies on the West

By President.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0, Link

Ukraine has depleted its Soviet-era weapons and now fully relies on Western military aid. Analysts say decades of exports and three years of war drained its arsenal.

According to Military Watch Magazine, Ukraine has run out of its remaining stockpiles of Soviet and Russian-made weapons, leaving its armed forces reliant on Western supplies.

The publication recalled that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kyiv inherited vast arsenals. These included T-80 tanks, strategic bombers, advanced air defense systems, fighter jets, and artillery. For years, Ukraine was regarded as one of the most heavily armed countries in Europe.

Observers noted that these reserves steadily dwindled over the following three decades. Most tanks and aircraft were either scrapped or sold abroad. As the magazine explained, Ukraine became an active exporter of military hardware: Su-27 fighters ended up in the United States, T-64 tanks were sold to Congo, and T-72 models went to South Sudan. Nearly the entire fleet of Ukraine’s most capable T-80UD tanks was transferred to Pakistan.

Despite these reductions, Ukraine still entered the ongoing conflict with one of the strongest arsenals on the continent, largely made up of Soviet-era equipment. However, after three years of intense fighting, analysts concluded that those reserves have now been completely exhausted.