Cheap Chinese Tires Caused Russian Vehicles to get Stuck in Mud in Ukraine?

‘Cheap Chinese tyres bought by corrupt officials’ may be to blame for Russian trucks and armoured vehicles getting stuck in the mud in Ukraine

• Russian vehicles may be getting stuck in the mud due to cheap Chinese tyres
• Western officials believe the knock-off could be stalling the Russian forces
• Poor tyre quality may be forcing Russia to use roads instead of harsher terrain, grouping the military targets together and leaving them more exposed

Corrupt Russian officers may have saved cash on tyres for their trucks and armoured vehicles by opting for cheap Chinese alternatives.

With Russian vehicles and armoured trucks getting stuck in the mud when veering off road, officials in the West are pointing to Chinese exports as a key factor behind the stalled invasion of Ukraine.

The poor quality of the tyres has meant Russian vehicles often get mired in difficult terrain, slowing the military advance of Putin's forces as the weather turns wetter.

NATO vehicles use Michelin XZL tyres, but Chinese businesses often copy the intellectual property of Western companies to produce cheaper copies in greater quantities.

Ukrainian forces capture a Russian army vehicle near Kyiv with the tyres burst. Corrupt Russian officers may have saved cash on tyres for their trucks and armoured vehicles by opting for cheap Chinese alternatives

Western officials believe cheap Chinese knock-offs may have played a role in the stalled invasion as more Russian vehicles are found abandoned in difficult terrain

NATO vehicles use Michelin XZL tyres, but Chinese businesses often copy the intellectual property of Western companies to produce cheaper copies in greater quantities

A Ukrainian serviceman jumps to shake the mud from his boots near the frontline village of Krymske. Crimea and south Ukraine is dryer with terrain, posing less of a risk for the Russians

'Russian generals are notoriously corrupt. Russia has a defense budget of around £60billion a year, but much of that budget is siphoned off at various levels,' an intelligence source told the New Zealand Times.

'The impact of this is that the Russians are forced to buy cheap tires to fit on expensive armored vehicles, and they just don’t work.'

China's version of the tire is the Yellow Sea YS20, of significantly poorer quality, according to self-described 'tyre expert' and University of Chicargo academic Karl Muth.

A set of 50 Michelin XZL tyres retails on Alibaba at approximately $36,000, whereas 50 sets of the Chinese equivalent retails at around $208.

Poor vehicle maintenance could also partially explain the stalling. Leaving tyres in direct sunlight for months on end often causes them to rip, adding to the amount of abandoned vehicles Ukrainians have encountered in various parts of the country during the war.

One photo shows a Russian Army Pantsir-S1 SAM stuck in the mud after its tyres burst.  

'There is a huge operational level implication in this,' commented Trent Telenko, a retired US Department of Defence Civil Servant who carried out vehicle maintenance for the US army.

'If the Russian Army was too corrupt to exercise a Pantsir-S1. They were too corrupt to exercise the trucks & wheeled AFV's now in Ukraine.'

A Russian Army Pantsir-S1 SAM is shown stuck in the mud after its tyres burst. Leaving tyres in direct sunlight for months on end often causes them to rip, adding to the amount of abandoned vehicles Ukrainians have encountered in various parts of the country

Potential tyre ruptures may be forcing the Russian army to stick to roads to else risk losing their armoured cars in the muck, leaving them more exposed to drone attacks and military ambushes.  

Crimea and south Ukraine is dryer with terrain posing less of a risk for the Russian military, but wet conditions pose a challenge elsewhere in the country.