Since the beginning of the war, more than 250 armored vehicles have been removed from the Dachnoye military equipment storage base near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, The Moscow Times calculated after analyzing satellite images. This is the military base farthest from the front line: Dachnoye is located more than 6,000 kilometers from Ukraine, on the border with Japan. Sakhalin has no land connection with the "mainland", and it was necessary to use the navy or aviation to remove the equipment. In 2020, there were 593 armored vehicles in the open air at the Dachnoye storage base, by October 2022 there were 556 units left, and in May 2024 - 342. Thus, during the war, 251 armored vehicles, or about 43%, were removed from the base. In addition, before the war with Ukraine, there were 9 hangars on the base's territory; by 2024, there were 5 of them left, the rest were destroyed, their wreckage is visible from satellite images. Probably, equipment was also stored there, but it is impossible to estimate its quantity.

Before the war, the base could have stored T-72b tanks, BMP-2b, 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled guns, 2S12 mortars, BM-21 MLRS, Konkurs self-propelled ATGMs, Strela-10 SAM systems, Shilka ZSUs, and S-60 anti-aircraft guns.

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 awnings, and the last, fourth - in the open air. At the 230th military base, equipment was stored mainly in the open air. In 2020, about 92 units of military equipment were stored under tents, in 2022 - about 99, and by May 2024 - about 39 units of military equipment.

"Dachnoye" belongs to the 68th Army Corps of the Eastern Military District, which includes the Far Eastern Military District, the Pacific Fleet, the eastern part of the Siberian Military District, as well as the Air Force and Air Defense Command. One of the main tasks of the 68th Army Corps is the defense of the Far East and the Kuril Islands. In 2020, the military group on Sakhalin was reinforced with additional weapons, including anti-aircraft missile systems, said former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. However, after the start of the war in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense began rotating equipment and military personnel from the Far East. In 2023, Japanese analysts reported that Russia had removed air defense systems from the Far East.

The 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Red Banner Brigade, which is taking part in the war in Ukraine, is located in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. In July 2023, Vladimir Putin awarded the 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade the title of Guards. By September 2024, at least 677 servicemen from the Sakhalin Region had died in the war in Ukraine, according to the roll call counts by Mediazona.

Russia began de-preserving old equipment back in 2022. After the war in Ukraine began, the Ministry of Defense stopped signing contracts for the disposal of military equipment, and armored vehicles began to disappear from storage bases for old Soviet weapons. Thus, about 40% of the equipment had disappeared from the largest Vagzhanovo base in Buryatia by 2023. In total, since the beginning of the war, Russia has lost more than 10 thousand units of armored vehicles of all types, according to the Oryx website, which keeps track of documented losses.

In December 2023, former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia had managed to increase tank production by 5-6 times, BMP production by 3-6 times, and deliver 1,530 new tanks and armored personnel carriers. According to the British International Institute for Strategic Studies IISS, 85% of the tanks mentioned by Shoigu were removed from storage and repaired.