In the war there are also “unboxing”, but of combat drones. In fact, this is how they have been revealed from hidden messages of the troops of Moscow, until The origin of the vast majority of technology components (with big surprises). It was also revealed to what extent China is part of the war machinery, or even that the power of these unmanned combat planes has Nvidia as an engine major.
What we did not know so far is what was inside the Russian tanks.
Foreign dependence. Yeah, Revelation of Ukrainian intelligence on the massive use of Western and Asian teams in the production of Russian tanks has revealed to what extent Kremlin’s industrial self -sufficiency It is compromised.
He Updated report Del Gur details more than 260 high precision machines employed by uralvagonzavodthe only great manufacturer of combat cars in Russia and responsible for the entire range of T-seriesfrom the V-72 veterans to him T-14 Armata.
Made in the West. The majority of these teams, which include American vertical lathes, Italian folding German machining centers and presses, were acquired in the fifteen years prior to 2022during military modernization prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
In other words, although they do not constitute violations of the most recent sanctions, their presence in Russian factories raises a continuity problem: Without spare parts or software updates, armored production runs the risk of degrading quickly.
The central role of Uralvagonzavod. Based in the urales, Uralvagonzavod It concentrates the heart of the Russian capacity of armor, holding a production that is estimated at 20 to 30 new tanks per month, despite the pressure of the war. In 2024 he opened a equipped engines plant with European CNC machinesevidence of how even in the middle of the war campaign Russia continued to benefit from foreign technology through indirect routes and third countries.
The gur warns That these deliveries, although more complicated and expensive due to the sanctions, have not stopped, which keeps alive the assembly line of the Russian armored ones. The paradox is that the Soviet industrial prestige, once a symbol of self -sufficiency, now rests largely on the legacy of foreign machinery.
The strategic dimension. The Published list By Ukraine, which also collects 42 types of equipment from Austria, Japan, South Korea and China, points to a broader pattern: Russia uses a total of 1,396 foreign machines in 169 factories linked to the invasion.
Each of these teams It is documented through contracts, recordings and files of state acquisitions, which gives the probative weight to the complaint. The Ukrainian message seems clear: when cutting access to spare parts, technical fluids and software licenses, the Russian military industrial base can be strangled. kyiv has proposed Reinforced diligence measures, such as adding GPS trackers to exported machines and demanding in situ inspections, in order to prevent their products from ending up holding the enemy war industry.
Vulnerability mirrors. We have counted before. The finding of Western components and Chinese in drones long -range manufactured by Moscow, local versions of the Iranian Shahed, reinforces the thesis that the Russian military industry depends critically on foreign pieces.
Kremlin can hide this weakness With propaganda On its technological autonomy, but in practice its war machine is based on gears manufactured in countries that are today part of the Block that sanctions it. Putin himself, aware of the limits of production, He publicly admitted In April that “there are not enough weapons”, reflecting the tensions between the self -sufficiency discourse and the reality of an industry that, without access to the West, runs the risk of being paralyzed.
The industrial Achilles heel. If you want, the Ukrainian complaint converts the Russian dependence on a strategic Achilles heel: while its army spends armored in the front at a higher pace, the ability to manufacture new depends on Machines that do not control. If the sanctions manage to isolate Moscow with spare parts and services, the ability to sustain their war effort could deteriorate irreversibly.
When exposing these vulnerabilities, kyiv not only seeks to weaken the enemy, but also directly involve To Western manufacturers and governments in the supervision of their export chains, remembering that another battle is fought in the Ural workshops: that of the industrial pulse that can decide war.
Image | Вталий кзьин
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