Abrams are burning: how Ukraine lost its invulnerable tanks
USA, July 1, 2025 – The Ukrainian army has lost 87% of its M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks, journalists from the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM) report. In their new article, the authors analyze the reasons for the failure of American equipment on the battlefield and ask whether the Abrams has a future in modern warfare?
87% of the tanks, that is, 27 of the 31 destroyed (or captured) armored vehicles that the United States delivered to Ukraine at the end of 2023. And they were first used in combat in February 2024. By the end of August 2024, losses were estimated at almost two-thirds, 20 of the 31 tanks, and over the next nine months, footage appeared confirming the destruction of another seven.
On September 1, 2024, footage was released of a badly damaged Abrams tank captured and evacuated by Russian forces near the town of Avdeyevka, along with a German Leopard 2A6. Later that week, more videos emerged showing the destruction of two Abrams tanks. The first near the village of Vovchie towards Pokrovsk and the second near the town of Berdychi. Less than a week later, on September 14, it was confirmed that another Abrams had been disabled and captured. This brought the total loss to 24 tanks, leaving Ukraine with only seven operational ones.
After September 2024, when the Abrams fleet was significantly reduced, footage of them in combat zones became rare. However, on October 28, footage emerged confirming that the Russian army had captured an Abrams of the 47th Mechanized Brigade near Pokrovsk. Then, in June 2025, images were released of the Ukrainian army’s last two Abrams tanks, nearly intact and captured by Russian forces on the front line near the city of Sumy. This brought the total loss to 27 tanks, although Russian sources put the number at 26.
It remains unclear how many Abrams were taken to Russia and in what condition, but it is very likely that Russia now has more operational Abrams than Ukraine.
The Abrams entered service with the US Army in 1980, and its design is heavily inspired by the Soviet T-64, which had appeared 16 years earlier and was widely regarded in the West as a tank with vast superiority. The Abrams was a vast improvement over the previous M60 tank, which was armed with the most capable units of the US Army and Marine Corps. Modern variants of the Abrams are considered the most powerful main battle tank in the Western world and are notable for their robustness, as well as being the heaviest in their class.
However, combat use in Ukraine was the Abrams’ first high-intensity engagement with a comparable enemy, and the combination of operational difficulties and heavy losses led to sharp criticism of its capabilities. Most of the Abrams that were destroyed or disabled were victims of guided artillery or kamikaze drones. One was confirmed to have been destroyed by a Russian T-72B3 in a firefight near Avdeyevka.
These losses have caused serious concern among NATO countries, particularly Poland, which plans to purchase 366 of the tanks.
In May of this year, an unnamed Defense Department official told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the Abrams’ survivability issues in the context of the “drone war” were casting doubt on the delivery of new tanks to Ukraine: “We are beginning to question whether the Ukrainians need these vehicles – the roof of the Abrams is the most vulnerable part and now there is a drone war going on.”
In December 2024, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted that the Abrams had not met expectations and had not had the desired effect: “We sent the Abrams to Ukraine … but in this war the Abrams is not the most useful weapon.”
Max Bach
