YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
- Russia has lost at least 100 of its T-90M tanks in the war in Ukraine.
- Oryx, a military analysis website which relies on visual evidence for confirmation, recently reported the milestone.
- Putin has praised the T-90M as the "world's best tank."
A top Russian tank touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the "world's best" has suffered at least 100 losses in the war in Ukraine, according to open-source information.
The losses were recorded by Oryx, an open-source intelligence site that relies on visual evidence to confirm and track war losses on both sides. More T-90Ms may have also been lost in combat but not recorded. Business Insider was unable to independently verify the information.
Losses, per the site's analysis, include destroyed, damaged, and captured vehicles.
The significant losses of the T-90M in combat highlight how the war has threatened heavy armor on both sides, even higher-end systems.
Bai Xueqi/Xinhua via Getty Images
Earlier this year, the Defense Ministry of Ukraine posted footage of a US-made Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle overwhelming a Russian T-90M tank with fire from its 25mm chain gun.
The withering fire eventually incapacitated the vehicle. The incident was just one of the vehicle's many losses.
Drones and loitering munitions, as well as mines and anti-tank missiles, are perhaps the greater threat, as these have also destroyed top Western armor provided to Ukraine, such as the Challenger, Leopard, and Abrams tanks.
Just as Ukraine has been doing with some of its tanks in this threat environment, Russia has equipped some T-90Ms with protective cope cages to shield them against anti-tank weapons and drones. The latter has become a defining threat in this war and has limited how tanks and other vehicles operate on the battlefield.
The cages don't always work, though, as video footage of some T-90M losses have shown. Sometimes the explosive first-person-view drones make it through.
Across the board, Russia's tank losses have been staggering in this conflict. Per Oryx's analysis, Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks so far.
REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
Putin has touted the T-90M as "the world's best tank," praising its weapons, targeting capability, and armor.
"As soon as it approaches positions, no chance is left for anyone or anything," he said in 2023.
The tank boasts a powerful engine, panoramic sight with rangefinder, thermal imagining, multi-layered armor, and ammunition placed outside the unit to prevent a catastrophic explosion.
One of the first reported losses of the advanced T-90M occurred just months into the war, when a Ukrainian journalist shared a photo of the charred vehicle in Kharkiv. At the time, the T-90M was considered among the most technologically advanced battle vehicles in Russia's arsenal.