<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Russia's offensive in the Poprovsk region has come at a cost of over 1,800 combat vehicles. ANATOLII STEPANOV via Getty Images</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia has lost five divisions' worth of tanks and vehicles in the Pokrovsk region since last October.</li><li>The losses occurred during Russian offensives to seize Avdiivka and now Poprovsk.</li></ul><p>Russian forces have reportedly lost nearly 2,000 <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-war-puts-russian-made-armored-vehicle-flaws-on-display-2023-10">armored vehicles, tanks, and heavy equipment</a> since launching its offensive in eastern Ukraine last October, an open-source researcher found.</p><p>In February, Russia seized <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-losses-avdiivka-exceed-10-year-soviet-afghan-war-isw-2024-2">the town of Avdiivka</a>, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold, after a monthslong campaign that contributed to "some of the highest Russian casualty rates of the war so far," according to British military intelligence.</p><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-lose-1000-troops-winter-war-three-fronts-uk-mod-2024-10">Moscow's losses</a> — both in equipment and <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-suffered-hundreds-thousands-casualties-in-ukraine-western-intelligence-2024-9">personnel</a> — only continued to grow as it advanced in the western Donetsk region, an onslaught against Ukraine's defended positions that contributed to the heavy toll in September; a US official recently said that month saw the highest Russian casualties in the entire war.</p><p>In early October, two key Ukrainian frontline towns, <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-vuhledar-seize-key-town-ukraine-2-years-fighting-war-2024-10">Vuhledar</a> and Hrodivka, fell to Russia during its advance toward Pokrovsk, a strategic city serving as a road and rail hub to supply Ukrainian military outposts.</p><p>Despite the heavy equipment losses, Russian forces have yet to make concrete tactical gains in the region, only advancing about 25 miles toward the key Ukrainian city.</p><p>A new report by <a target="_blank" class href="https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-october-6-2024">the Institute for the Study of War</a> said the losses amount to at least five divisions' worth of combat vehicles, citing an <a target="_blank" class href="https://x.com/naalsio26/status/1842341054428700784/photo/1">open-source X account</a> tracking visually confirmed Russian vehicle and equipment losses.</p><p>Russian forces have also lost rockets, anti-aircraft systems, and <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-furious-over-reports-drone-operators-sent-die-goodwin-ernest-2024-9">drones</a> in its offensive along the eastern front. This is a breakdown of the heavy losses that could jeopardize Russia's ability to expand its battlefield gains.</p>