A graphical comparison of Russian and Ukrainian military forces

WASHINGTON — In the early morning February 24, Russia began a new invasion of Ukraine. Data from a recent report compares the military forces of the two countries and provides details on Russian-backed separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk.

This is not Russia’s first military intervention in the European country, the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote in its 2022 “Military Balance” report. Notably, since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, “European states have reached a milestone in defense spending,” the think tank wrote.

The following information on certain weapon systems – with footnotes at the bottom of this article – is also available on the IISS Military Balance+ database.

• Data from November 2021.
• Armored fighting vehicles are armored combat vehicles with a combat weight of at least 6 metric tons.
• Artillery are weapons (including guns, howitzers, multiple rocket launchers and mortars) of a caliber greater than 100 mm for artillery pieces and 80 mm and greater for mortars, capable of engaging ground targets with indirect fire.
• Surface-to-surface missile launchers are vehicles for transporting and firing ballistic missiles and surface-to-surface cruises.
• air defense includes cannons, directed energy weapons, and surface-to-air missile launchers designed to engage fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft. Systems primarily intended to intercept missiles rather than aircraft are excluded.