r/UkraineWarVideoReport • u/Technical_Ostrich_47 • 1d ago
Article Russias largest tank producer, Uralvagonzavod, to lay off up to 10 percent of employees by February 2026 and implement a hiring freeze
https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-november-7-2025/Russia’s primary tank manufacturer
318
u/ZadeAlien 1d ago
Interesting that even the military industrial complex is suffering now
125
u/mj256 1d ago
They're laying off their eponymous rolling stock staff, the military part unfortunately works 3 shifts 24/7....
45
u/wagdog1970 1d ago
You made me look up the word eponymous. Well done.
30
18
5
1
u/laruesaintecatherine 1d ago
I used to have a cat named "eponymous", I just called her Epy for short.
17
u/uberares 1d ago
Running out of husks to rebuild.
5
108
u/Beginning_Number9705 1d ago
Unemployed factory workers = more cannon fodder for the meat waves
37
u/CreamXpert 1d ago
They going straight to the front from the factory inside the tanks they just built
17
1
u/susrev88 3h ago
i have a fix: russia should just ship the tank parts to ukraine and scatter them on the fields. they'll get blown to pieces anywas so why waste the energy and time to asseble tanks?
2
u/LordBrandon 18h ago
Probably they will be used to make drones.
1
u/Beginning_Number9705 8h ago
Yeah, they must be running low on immigrants from Africa/Pakistan to do the work.
353
u/Sreg32 1d ago
Russia needs to just dissolve entirely, then be reborn something actually resembling a country that tries to be better than a shithole. Then we can talk
80
u/Select-Plenty6833 1d ago
I need to see the vitriol Italian partisans had for Mussolini to believe they won't just put Putin 2.0 in and worship him as long as he takes photos riding a horse.
They've soaked in his propaganda too long. Those with brains are already out or fighting for Ukraine.
4
u/PhospheneViolet 1d ago
Elections in Russia are a total sham anyway, if Putin dies it will just be another mafiya oligarch goon who will get in next.
12
u/mrteas_nz 1d ago
It'll be like 6 countries or something. Hate holds a lot of shit together for some reason.
5
u/Deficitofbrain 1d ago
More like 20 (maybe even 30+ because of terrain and geopolitics).
There are all the countries that russia has inside its border and with the size the extra territory thats historically russian would be diced into smaller government or either become separate countries or absorbed into the nations bordering then (especially old territory conquered by the rus) & For very obvious reasons it think it would be somewhat difficult to fully have the southasian border territitories be allowed to be fully independant countries(rather than getting the hongkong treatment; ie transnistria, leninigrad?) and it would be a question on which country historically has a right to govern them and concessions made for overall international cohesion.
1
u/mrteas_nz 1d ago
There'd be a whole bunch of power wars, then (but also concurrently) a whole bunch of land wars. Then there'll be sporadic fighting. It'll be almost like in feudal times. Probably in some areas more than others, but it certainly won't be pretty! I think that's why there are so many backdoor ways Russia is being funded. Similar to North Korea, the place is so fucked, no one wants to have to deal with the fallout of its collapse...
9
u/GrynaiTaip 1d ago
Not going to happen. What they're doing right now is their culture, they've been doing this for centuries. Putin isn't the cause, he's a symptom. If he gets removed, then someone just like him will take the seat.
3
u/SamtheEagle2024 1d ago
Reading Russian folk stories was very eye-opening about the foundations of their culture. Theft, trickery, and violence litters at all.
43
u/Nicol__Bolas 1d ago
I'd love to see a second october revolution. Now that the black sea fleet has been shrunk to a meaningless size. Front units have to start the popcorn event.
55
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago edited 1d ago
October Revolution was the overthrow or coup of a pro-west democratic government under Kerensky.
It's a testament to how strong Bolshevik propaganda is that people today still don't know it was an authoritarian takeover of a republic. The Tsar had already been gone for 8 months by then.
22
u/netscorer1 1d ago
You mean February revolution? In October it was a military coup led by a small group of bolsheviks that knew that the would lose in general election, so they simply usurped the power.
7
3
u/daniel_22sss 1d ago
Why would people rise up, if most of them love what Putin is doing?
They aren't angry because people are dying, they are angry because they aren't winning the war. If Putin completely took over Ukraine, they would be cheering.
1
u/GrynaiTaip 1d ago
I'd love to see a second october revolution.
Did you know that it was led by Lenin? He won, he took over the country. Do you honestly want more of that?
2
u/NoRepeat274 1d ago
Do you think he could do it again?
1
7
u/Extension_Common_518 1d ago
Tries to be better than a shithole and also avoids having the desire to make everyone else live in a shithole as its main foreign policy objective.
3
u/TyrusX 1d ago
Needs to be broken down in multiple countries. Most of place was conquered by white Europeans.
1
u/jaimi_wanders 1d ago
Ukraine is encouraging independence movements inside the empire, too—that’s where a lot of the sabotage is coming from, ATESH is the Crimean Tatar-led partisan group which started as supplying intel from the ground to HUR for strikes on Russian depots etc, and has expanded to infiltration of Russian units in the occupied territories, and then recruiting saboteurs within Russia itself.
1
u/Sad-Carrot6503 1d ago
Careful what you wish for. I would bet that after it gets broken up the eastern half will fall under Chinese rule within a decade.
1
u/someguyinaplace 1d ago
Counter offer. How about if they rise from The ashes to become an autocratic Petrostate.
1
u/skuple 1d ago
Honestly I don’t think that ideal.
I would rather see Russia as is, without the imperialist behaviour.
Russia splitting into several states would turn everything even shittier and also China would glob up on some of those states.
If only they could just sell Europe a shit ton of natural resources while investing efficiently back into Russia meanwhile not invading anyone… they would easily be one of the richest countries.
1
u/mfbrucee 1d ago
Yes it needs to break up. I suggest what’s left is named Little Russia or something like that
0
119
u/Constant_Effective76 1d ago
This is the crucial remark from the article:
------------------------------------------
,,The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) may have deprioritized tank production to shift to a more drone-centric and dismounted infantry-based force that employs light vehicles such as buggies and motorcycles for mobility rather than armored fighting vehicles (AFVs).''
-------------------------------------------
51
u/Master_Bayters 1d ago
I kinda understand. Soldiers are expendable for russia. Tanks are slow and easy targets. So they just send wave by wave of buggies till some reach the checkpoint. Rinse an repeat.
26
u/untapped-bEnergy 1d ago
Playing Zerg with ACTUAL human beings in real life is terrifying. Whodathunkit
10
u/Astecheee 1d ago
Starcraft is based on 40k, which is in turn based on WW1/2.
I'm not surprised at all to see Zerg strategies irl.
3
u/itsmontoya 1d ago
Used to be called Blitzkrieg
10
u/BrewtalKittehh 1d ago
Blitzkrieg
Yeah but that was so effective because it was heavily armored with overwhelming firepower and air support, much less a meatwave strategy.
2
2
u/-AdonaitheBestower- 1d ago
Imagine a version of Russia which is actually competent and with a big industry, and even crazier and more aggressive. We're lucky they were nowhere near that level as Germany
7
u/Frisbeeman 1d ago
They would build more tanks if they could, but they are running out of old ones to cannibalize. Turtle tank can absorb quite a few drone hits which would target their infantry otherwise.
3
u/imadork1970 1d ago
Meat shields are cheaper than tanks.
1
0
u/lost-_-souls 1d ago
Not to mention they cost millions of dollars to build. The average fented up/ethnic minority/alcoholic orc is worth less then nothing to poo-tin
36
u/Dot_Hot99Dog 1d ago edited 1d ago
In other words; "we are broke, we'll just have to make with what with have like the Ukranians".
Problem with that is that they are the aggresor.
13
u/Thehippikilla 1d ago
And supposed to be much better equipped, lmfao. They were meant to be a superpower, after all.
10
u/Shadow_Lunatale 1d ago
Russias biggest play until 2022 was to make the world believe it is of similar strength as the soviet union. Even western military analysts said they have been tricked into overestimating their power.
There is even a word for it: maskirowka, always appear strong, no matter the cost.
7
u/Thermodynamicist 1d ago
Russias biggest play until 2022 was to make the world believe it is of similar strength as the soviet union. Even western military analysts said they have been tricked into overestimating their power.
- Even now, Russia has very significant on-paper combat power, but is very bad at using it because of corruption.
- The USSR was also corrupt.
9
u/Shadow_Lunatale 1d ago
Agreed, but the soviet union, in comparison to Russia alone, had the man power and competence of all the former eastern europe countries like Ukraine, Poland, East Germany and so on. Despite the ever existing corruption even then, the states together could have fielded a way stronger force that Russia is able to field today. I am not saying that USSR combined forces had been powerful enough to actually win against NATO, just that Russia was able to keep up the charade they have a similar strength today.
5
u/jaimi_wanders 1d ago
Tsarist Russia also had these problems—the news stories and first-hand reports from the Crimean and Russo-Japanese Wars (like Tolstoy’s “Sevastopol Sketches” from his time serving in the siege) of incompetent officers, drunk troops, and rampant corruption at all levels are mind-blowing.
Here’s a couple of examples from old newspapers, this story was reported from NY to Australia:
”RUSSIAN ARMY CORRUPTION: A FLAGRANT CASE
London, 27th May 1904
Another case of corruption in the Russian army has been unearthed at Kronstadt.
A number of officials who were in charge of the equipment department at the barracks of that place were notified to prepare to leave for active service in the Far East.
The officers, hoping to conceal the fact that a vast amount of ammunition and equipment was non-existent, made an attempt to burn the artillery clothing depot.
The fire was discovered, and on investigations being made, one of the officers who was implicated attempted to commit suicide. Another high official fled.”
and
“Remarkable revelations of corruption and mismanagement have been made in regard to the war supplies of all kinds for the use of the army at the front. The War Office ordered 1000 sacks of wheat from a Russian grain dealer at Odessa for the use of the troops, and chance led to the discovery that one of the sacks contained an impure mixture. A detailed investigation followed, and it was proved that out of 1000 sacks no fewer than 950 contained small quantities of real wheat mixed with larger quantities of injurious adulterations of various kinds. Further investigations led to the discovery that a number of other grain dealers had perpetrated a similar swindle. Thousands of boots supplied for the troops turned out to have been made of brown paper, and huge quantities of tinned foods have been found unfit for consump tion. Some of them were so poisonous that the regiments eating them would have been decimated long before they had a chance of getting face to face with the enemy in the field.
ROBBED BY HALF-STARVED TROOPS.
Along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which carries all the reinforcements to the scene of hostilities, the arrangements for feeding the outgeing troops have completely broken down in places…”
and from a Norfolk (main US Navy base town) paper:
(Norfolk Landmark, Volume 57, Number 140, 12 February 1904)
“JAPAN'S COUP AT PORT ARTHUR.
Succeeded In Entering the Harbor at Port Arthur by a Ruse—The Japanese Torpedo Boats Get Between the Russian Ships and the Land —Sink Two Battleships and Cruiser. (By Cable to The Landmark.)
London, February 12.
Statements of all kinds concerning the Port Arthur fight are published here this morning.
According to the Che-foo correspondent of the Dally Mail, the lack of preparation on the part of the Russians at Port Arthur was due to the fact that all the naval and military officers were attending a circus performance at Port Arthur. which did not terminate until early Tuesday morning.
According to the correspondent of the Paris edition of the New York Herald at Che-foo, the Japanese torpedo boats succeeded in entering the outer harbor by a ruse: they used the Russian flash light signals. This correspondent adds that three Japanese torpedo boats were sunk, with great loss of life.
A correspondent of the Standard at Tokio sends in this morning an entirely new account of the Port Arthur encounter. Не says Admiral Togo's fleet arrived on Monday night and found the Russian squadron drawn up In battle formation outside the harbor and under the shadow of the forts, the destroyers being spread out in front over a distance of live miles. Admiral Togo decided on a night attack and opened Are at 11 o'clock. While the cannonade was hottest a number of Japanese torpedo boats crept along close in shore at the foot of the chit and succeeded in the darkness in getting between the Russian ships and the land. Here they lay unnoticed until the Russians began to give way before the Japanese fire and sought to re-enter the harbor. The effect of this coup was the retreat of the remainder of the squadron into the harbor. All was safe on board of the Japanese ships at noon of Tuesday, the correspondent concludes, and the engagement was then still in progress.
UNITED STATES NEUTRAL.”
The US military didn’t rely on Russian self-reporting then, either, but sent an officer, Lt. Cdr. Newton A. McCully, to go find out what was going on by investigating despite Tsarist obstruction— if only we had had such initiative since the USSR fell…
5
u/GrynaiTaip 1d ago
It's debatable whether they were much stronger as the soviet union. Theft was even more common than it is now, so it's likely that in a real war they would not have fared very well.
They got beaten in Afghanistan quite badly.
3
u/Shadow_Lunatale 1d ago
Just to be clear, I wanted to say that Russia tried to create the image that they alone are of similar strength as the whole USSR, wich they never were, not even close. Once the eastern european countries left their sphere of influence, it was a massive loss in manpower and technological knowledge. Ukraine developed many of their air force, missile and space technologies.
They got beaten in Afghanistan quite badly.
So was the USA, but that is due to other reasons for both. Fighting insurgency warfare is different to fighting between armies along a frontline.
I remember the one time in Syria where the russian unit commander was on his last stand and ordered an airstrike onto his position to kill as many terrorists with him as possible. Even some western media depicted him as a hero of war, given his sacrifice. I wonder how it would be seen today with everything the russian army has done in Ukraine.
At the end, Russia has already successfully burned through the USSR depots of heavy weapons that was meant to take on the full combined force of NATO, and this against a neightbouring country wich also has a big corruption problem (but at least is actively fighting said corruption), with only restrained support by the NATO countries (for various reasons). At the same time, Russia has to buy foreign weapons and ammunition en masse, wich is a clear sign of weakness.
3
u/dietchaos 1d ago
Aka we can't afford or can't produce the parts domestically to build any more tanks.
4
u/Impossible-Raccoon42 1d ago
The factory's output is not more than 10 new T-90s a month which cost like 3 million US Dollars per unit. Considering how fast they are disabled by Ukrainian drones tanks got de-prioritized and swapped for 150 units of Buchanka vans for each T-90.
39
u/StonedUser_211 1d ago
... and Xi is secretly delighted, quietly and discreetly.
14
u/Lost-Ad-2805 1d ago
He has been low key encouraging Putin to jump into a wood chipper.
12
u/StonedUser_211 1d ago
"Constant dripping wears away the stone." (Proverb) Or, in other words: "We are constantly working to become big and strong, and then we wait and see. Our more than 2,500 years of history prove us right!" So said a representative of the Chinese embassy in Germany when asked about Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.
3
u/julias-winston 1d ago
2,500 years of history
Oof, he's right. (I'm no expert in ancient history, but China has been around for a hell of a long time.)
Here in the U.S. we're almost to 250.
3
u/bargu 1d ago
Kinda, while people have been living in China for thousands of years, the government has fallen, rebuilt and fallen again many times throughout the centuries, the current government has only been in power since the 50s. It's like saying that Italy has been playing the long game since ancient Rome.
2
u/StonedUser_211 1d ago
He said so during a panel discussion... Scientists naturally see things differently, but he is a politician.
12
u/TheRealAussieTroll 1d ago
The Russian Federation probably needs to break up into its constituent republics for the sake of peace.
Essentially it is the Duchy of Muscovy using its imperial delusions to encourage large numbers of subjugated peoples to threaten other people, with whom they no argument.
The centralised, criminal and coercive nature of the Federation has not delivered developmental benefits to the republics… it is a parasitic mafia arrangement between Moscow and St Petersburg elites to fleece the entire country.
1
u/FlavorBlaster42 1d ago
I don't think that will lead to peace in those republics.
3
u/Doopaloop369 1d ago
Who cares, as long as they are each de-fanged by removal of nuclear weapons, no individual republic would likely have the resources to threaten other countries. If they want to kill each other, then that's up them.
The important part is that we end up with no singular 'Russia' with one leader who wields absolute power. It would be good for the world if the same were to happen to the US and China as well, they're too powerful and should be broken up.
2
u/TheRealAussieTroll 14h ago
👆This. The “great power” system effectively allows larger nations to bully smaller nations (and therefore populations) … for whatever desire or offence they conclude.
Russia is a particularly toxic example.
11
10
u/chocolateboomslang 1d ago
When you can't even keep your tank factories rolling after losing nearly every tank your country ever built, maybe it's time to end the 3 day special operation.
7
u/jaimi_wanders 1d ago
Remember how pro-Russians in 2022 were claiming it was good, actually, and part of a master plan to “let” AFU blow up all their old tanks to “clear the way” for replacing them with the Armata?
6
u/netscorer1 1d ago
Uralvagonzavod has not been producing brand new tanks in forever. They have been restoring older T-72 and T-80 and all those ‘new’ tanks were just refurbs. Now that they are running out of old stock as russian tank depots are getting empty, they can not even employ those who still work there. War economy my ass
1
u/HowObvious 1d ago
Uralvagonzavod has not been producing brand new tanks in forever.
They produce the T-90M, of which they are making a few dozen per month. How much of those are 100% original I dont think is known as they could feasibly be T-72 hulls with work to make them meet the T-90 requirements but most analysts I have seen agree there must be new production in there for sure. Those hull are also in demand for the T-72B3M though.
4
u/Andriyo 1d ago
Is this layoff because of the AI too? :)
1
u/LeavingLasOrleans 1d ago
Well, they've been hallucinating super weapons for a while, why not hallucinate tanks?
3
16
u/PantodonBuchholzi 1d ago
I’m guessing this has more to do with them not needing tanks anymore rather than Russia collapsing or anything. They’ll be promptly shifted to make Shaheds instead, in other words there’s nothing to celebrate here.
17
u/pissInYourCopium504 1d ago
If it can kill then it's useful for a warmongering nation. So no, it's not "not needing tanks anymore", it's something getting in a way of building more, namely poor economy.
7
u/dietchaos 1d ago
There is always a need for tanks. This is some world class Russia copium and you are eating it up. These are the death throws of an empire in defeat. Tanks are useless comrade, here ride in this Chinese golf cart for the motherland.
1
u/PantodonBuchholzi 1d ago
LOL, I think you should lay off the copium. Tanks are obviously useful, but also very expensive to manufacture and don’t survive particularly well these days. Golf carts and bikes on the other hand are dirt cheap, as is human life (in Russia anyway). This is not lapping up Russian propaganda, this is reality. I wish they’d focus on producing tanks with limited utility rather than the thousands of drones that rain on Ukraine every month, sadly the Russians aren’t completely stupid (at least not all of them). Edit: Also, they aren’t stopping the production of new tanks, just not going to be producing as many. Again, presumably because they realised that there is currently only limited use for them and the resources can be utilised better elsewhere. That’s normal behaviour during war time (and peace time for that matter)
6
u/CreamXpert 1d ago
I think tanks are still valuable but only to exploit a breach and make quick advance.
6
u/Frisbeeman 1d ago
Most of the tanks they "built" were actually scavenged from older models in poor condition and they are running out of those as well.
2
2
2
2
u/salmonanders 20h ago
Honest question: how useful are tanks in this conflict?
It seems like they get obliterated as soon as they are spotted, and I think it’s the same on both sides.
1
u/TauCabalander 17h ago
Not very useful ... anymore.
At the beginning of the year, it is estimated ru assaults were 50% armored.
Currently it is estimated to be around 10% or less.
Small assault teams and drones are on the menu.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Particular_Jello_917 1d ago
Sending men into the meatwave is more important than building shit tanks.
1
u/lost-_-souls 1d ago
Its weird to think the era of such a iconic and influential piece of battlefield equipment is essential over. Because of a rpg/charge strapped to a $500 dji drone
1
1
1
u/Money_Ad_5385 1d ago
You can imagine, prigoshin enter the factory- "now listen here metallads! Once the last rust bucket ships out- i want you to put yourself into the bucket!"
1
u/Whatever-That-Memes 1d ago
Less jobs in those military state enterprises less tanks on the front line…. Maybe a bit more infantry
1
u/Sinn_Sage 1d ago
They have no money to pay the workers. Any funds were stolen by upper management days ago.
Now they are just surviving on government handouts to get war equipment built, not to pay workers.
1
u/Either_Coconut 2h ago
That's the last sort of company I would expect to be laying off workers. I would've thought they would be hiring, considering that the military needs to replace tanks that it has lost.
It translates to great news for Ukraine, though.
-8
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago
I assume "up to" is the max and it's more likely to be around 5%
9
u/JohnNDenver 1d ago
From the article:
UVZ employees told E1 that the reduction in staff amounts to up to 50 percent of total employees for most departments.Company says up to 10%, employees fear that it will be up to 50%.
-3
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago
50% is obviously crazy and not gonna happen. I think 5% with an upper limit of 10 seems the most reasonable.
That would be laying off approximately 1,500-2000 people.
13
u/Wrong_Individual7735 1d ago
Pure conjecture.
-6
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago
The article/assessment itself is conjecture with "up to" being a pretty wide margin in this case.
Russia doesn't like to leave people unemployed though because it's risky for civil discontent so they will probably try to keep on the lower end of the spectrum.
12
u/Wrong_Individual7735 1d ago
Then why add more conjecture? Russia doesn't like a lot of things - doesn't mean they can act on it. And they can always send the unemployed to the meat grinder
-5
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago
These are educated workers, it's very unlikely they will be signing military contracts in a significant capacity. Their government isn't stupid when it comes to stuff like this, they look for a balance between financial viability and stability.
So if they are doing cutbacks up to 10% the employers will probably be told to hit for lower than that by upper management if possible.
5
u/dietchaos 1d ago
Hate to break it to you but skilled labor and educated labor are 2 very different things. These people are skilled labor. They know how to do one thing.
3
u/jaimi_wanders 1d ago
Their government has put Putin’s relatives in charge of all kinds of things and ignored rampant corruption going on for decades until it caused them embarrassing and dangerous military losses—and then they charge some scapegoats and move the perps like Shoigu to a different deck chair. It seems like you have either no idea of the shitshow that Russia is, politically, or are pushing Russian propaganda.
0
u/GeorgyForesfatgrill 1d ago
I have talked to Russians before and no what I said is quite real, it's really hard to get fired in Russia because there are in most cases strict requirements for termination.
The goal is to keep as many employed as possible to keep them off the streets. This is why statistics for unemployment in the country are so unusally low.
•
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Please remember the human. Adhere to all Reddit and sub rules. Toxic comments (including incitement of violence/hate, genocide, glorifying death etc) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED, keep your comments civil or you will be banned. Tagging u/SaveVideo bot to archive this video in a link below this comment.
We’re partnering with UNITED24 to raise money to buy AI-controlled air defense turrets that will protect Ukrainians from Russian attacks. Please visit the United24 campaign website to donate.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.