40 percent of equipment missing from Russian base near Japanese border

Based on the analysis of satellite images, the Moscow Times claims that while two years before the war, there were nearly 600 armored vehicles stationed at the Dachnoye military equipment base near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, in October 2022 there were 556 of them, and in May 2024 – 342.

Moreover, before the outbreak of the war with Ukraine There were nine hangars on the base, which were probably also used to store equipment. By 2024, five of them remained, the rest were destroyed.

Before the war broke out, the base could have been used to store tanks, mortars, self-propelled guns and anti-aircraft guns, the portal believes.

According to the instructions of the Ministry of Defense, there are four categories of preservation of old military equipment. The first category, which includes the most valuable equipment, is stored in ventilated and heated rooms, the second – in hangars, the third – under tents, the last, the fourth – in the open air.

At the 230th military base, the equipment was stored mainly outdoors. In 2020, there were about 90 units of military equipment under tents, in 2022 – about 100 units, and by May 2024 – about 40 units of military equipment.

The Dachnoye base belongs to the corps, whose main tasks include the defense of the Far East and the Kurils. However, after the attack on Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry began to rotate equipment and soldiers from the Far East. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is the headquarters of the 39th Red Banner Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade, which takes part in war in Ukraine.

In July 2023 Vladimir Putin awarded the title of Guards Brigade to this brigade. As estimated by the independent website Mediazona, by September at least 677 soldiers from the Sakhalin Oblast had died in the war.