Camilla Jessen
Russia lists battle-damaged tanks for sale.
Facing mounting battlefield losses, Russia’s Defense Ministry has started auctioning off wrecked tanks and armored vehicles.
Destroyed war machines for sale
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has begun selling destroyed tanks and armored vehicles as scrap metal, according to the Moscow Times.
The listings, posted on the state procurement platform “GIS Torgi,” include dozens of vehicles damaged in Ukraine and now stored in the Rostov region near the border.
What’s on the auction list
The equipment for sale includes T-80, T-72B3, and T-62 tanks, as well as infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and MT-LB multipurpose tractors.
Officially, the listings describe the lots as “ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal,” though photos attached to the auctions clearly show burned-out and dismantled combat vehicles with visible battle damage.
Pricing Russia’s battlefield losses
Three lots have been posted so far, each priced between about $38,800 and $53,300.
The documents state that the hardware is located in the village of Petrovka, Myasnikovsky district, Rostov region.
Buyers must hold a valid scrap-processing license and cover all transportation costs to remove the remains.
First open sale of destroyed equipment
The Moscow Times noted that this is among the first times Russia’s military has publicly sold off wrecked combat vehicles from the war in Ukraine.
Photos show stripped hulls, broken tracks and open hatches stacked in rows across open storage lots, labeled as being in “satisfactory condition.”
Online reactions and comparisons
Commenters on Russian social media pointed out that the vehicles appear in no worse shape than those seen rusting in long-term storage depots.
Some viewed the sales as an attempt by the government to quietly offload the physical evidence of enormous battlefield losses.
The toll of Ukraine’s defense effort
According to UNITED24 Media, Ukraine has destroyed nearly 10,000 Russian tanks since the full-scale invasion began in 2022 — an outcome largely driven by its fast-growing drone industry.
What began as small-scale experiments with commercial quadcopters has evolved into a national network capable of producing millions of drones each year, including FPV models able to destroy tanks worth millions for only a few hundred dollars.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, which may have used AI in the preparation
