Satellite images show depletion of Russian equipment stocks at a military institute warehouse in Omsk

Satellite images show a complete depletion of armored vehicle stocks at the Omsk Tank-Automotive Engineering Institute’s storage facility.

The photos were posted by the OSINT enthusiast @hizzo_jay on social media.

A relatively small amount of equipment was stored at this base. As of 2021, there were 120 tanks, 89 armored personnel carriers, 41 infantry fighting vehicles, and 54 MT-12 Rapira cannons. Judging by satellite images from April 2025, this equipment has been removed from storage. In addition, there are several dozen trucks and several BAT-2 engineering vehicles at the base. The armored vehicles and guns were stored under protective covers and were therefore in relatively good condition.

The Omsk Tank-Automotive Engineering Institute is the only higher education institution in Russia that trains engineers specializing in the repair, maintenance, and modernization of motor vehicles and armored vehicles.

The fact that equipment is being removed from educational institutions’ warehouses highlights the Russian army’s problems with depleting its equipment reserves.

The pace of tank recommissioning

At the end of March 2025, the researchers from the Resurgam and Viiskovyi Vishchun (Military soothsayer – ed.) platforms, based on an analysis of satellite images of storage bases and repair plants, concluded that the pace of Russian tank restoration had fallen by 3.5-4 times compared to 2022.

In total, between 2022 and 2025, Russia decommissioned more than 4,000 tanks that were in the best technical condition. This is estimated to be 54% of all vehicles suitable for restoration. This led to the depletion of equipment reserves and a significant slowdown in the pace of removal of equipment from bases.

While thousands of units were removed annually in 2022-2023, only 342 tanks were removed from storage between February 2024 and February 2025. 

As of early 2025, 3,463 tanks remain at the main storage bases. This indicates that the supply of easily repairable vehicles has been exhausted, as factories need more and more time for repairs. Another 1,253 tanks are located on the premises of armored vehicle factories.

At the same time, the number of vehicles in factory storage yards has begun to decline for the first time, indicating that the rate of decommissioning vehicles at storage bases has fallen below the rate of repairing decommissioned vehicles.

According to the researchers’ analysis, the approximate rate of tank restoration/production in 2022 was up to 120 units per month. By the end of 2023, the rate had fallen to 90 units. Throughout 2024, tank production and restoration fluctuated between 44 and 75 units per month. However, by the end of the year, it fell to 50 units per month. This was no longer enough to cover the losses of the Russian army.

At the beginning of 2025, the production rate fell even further, to 30-35 tanks per month. It is expected that in the second half of the year, it may fall even further due to a shortage of T-80 tanks suitable for restoration. According to estimates by the British International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia produced only 164 T-90M tanks between 2022 and 2024, or about 80 per year. This is an extremely low figure, which does not allow for the losses to be compensated.