Russia has lost perhaps half of 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, Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for policy said on Tuesday.
“Putin has failed”, “Russia will come out of this war weaker than when it started” said Kahl.
Kahl said that Russia has suffered “tens of thousands of casualties” since the start of the war in February, which is a “magnitude” more than the Soviet Union suffered in Afghanistan.
“They probably lost half of their main battle tanks in the entire Russian army,” Kahl said.
“They have trapped more than 80 percent of their ground force in Ukraine. They have spent most of their precision-guided munitions in Ukraine, and sanctions and export controls will make it very difficult for them to rebuild their military to what it looked like before the war.
“Putin entered this war trying to extinguish Ukraine as an independent and sovereign democratic country. He has failed and that will not change. A sovereign, independent and democratic Ukraine will remain.” Kahl noted that there is significant bipartisan support for Ukraine moving forward, but what that support looks like and the needs of Ukraine’s military going forward may vary.