Russians "trophied" Western YPR-765 IFVs, one was used disastrously

The full-scale war in Ukraine continues, and Russian occupiers have "captured" at least five intact YPR-765 infantry fighting vehicles, which were provided to Kiev by the Netherlands.

This information was shared by Forbes. The national information portal "Tisk" reported on Telegram on Friday evening, August 23, that during the assault in Donetsk Oblast, the opponents used a "captured" YPR-765 infantry fighting vehicle as an armored personnel carrier.

According to the publication, the enemy assault was repelled by Ukrainian reconnaissance soldiers, and the invaders suffered losses. NIP showed a photo showing an infantry fighting vehicle with two destroyed enemies lying near it.

Besides being an historical oddity with a storied past, the Russian-operated YPR-765 is yet another data point in one of the most important trends as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its third year: the Russians are running out of armored vehicles. It’s not for no reason that they had to repurpose a captured Dutch vehicle from the late 1970s.

The Russian military went to war in Ukraine in early 2022 with around 11,000 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers—the main vehicles for transporting infantry into battle and supporting them with gunfire.

On the drone-infested, artillery-peppered battlefields in Ukraine, IFVs and APCs are arguably more important than tanks. Which is why, early in the wider war, Carnegie Endowment analyst Michael Kofman warned that “the main Russian shortfall in armored vehicles is not in tanks, but in IFVs.”

That shortfall has gotten worse and worse as the war has ground on. In 29 months, the Russians have lost—destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured—no fewer than 6,500 IFVs and APCs.