Russia probably lost half its tanks in war against Ukraine, says US official
Russian tank (Photo:REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
Russia has probably lost half its main battle tanks and used up most of its precision-guided weapons in a war that has become a “massive strategic failure” for the Kremlin, a senior Pentagon official has said.
U.S. news channel CNN quoted Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, as saying on Nov. 8 that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had “bogged down more than 80% of (the Russians’) land forces in Ukraine.”
“Putin has failed,” Kahl told a group of reporters during an event held by George Washington University’s Project for Media and National Security.
Kahl said Russia has suffered “tens of thousands of casualties” since the war began in February, which is “orders of magnitude” more than the Soviet Union suffered in Afghanistan.
“They’ve spent down a majority of their precision guided munitions in Ukraine, and the sanctions and export controls will make it very difficult for them to rebuild their military to what it looked like before the war.”
According to Kahl, Putin went into this war trying to extinguish Ukraine as an independent, sovereign democratic country.
“He’s failed, and that’s not going to change,” the official said.
“A sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine is going to endure.”
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