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Russia has likely lost half of its main battle tanks fighting in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said on Tuesday, adding that the Russian military will end up weaker than before the war began.
Colin Cull, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “suffered a colossal strategic failure” during his ongoing and unprovoked war in Ukraine.
Highlighting Putin’s military failures, Kahl said Russian forces have “probably lost half of their main battle tanks” and tens of thousands of soldiers in Ukraine, according to a Defense Ministry report released Wednesday.
Kahl did not specify exactly how many tanks the Pentagon estimates Russia has lost, but according to an analysis of open-source intelligence by Oryx, at least 1,450 Russian tanks have been destroyed, captured, abandoned or destroyed during the war. to be about half the tank strength before the invasion. In particular, Russian troops fleeing the Ukrainian battlefield advances have left behind modern T-90 tanks that Moscow considers to be among the most advanced in its arsenal.
Russia, in turn, was forced to retire old and obsolete tanks – such as the Soviet-era T-62 main battle tank. This type of tank is decades old, can even be seen in some museums, and has long since been replaced by newer, more capable systems.
In addition to armor losses, Russian forces have also lost mountains of other high-value and heavy weapons, much of it. like Russian tanks, it has been re-used by Ukraine, even though it continues to enjoy significant security and military assistance from Western countries.
It is also unclear exactly how many casualties Russia has in Ukraine, but losses are believed to be significant.
No updated casualty figures have been released since the Pentagon said in August that 80,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The figure came before Ukrainian forces launched two counter-offensives along the war’s northeastern and southern fronts, moves that have seen Russian lines crumble and Kyiv free up thousands of square miles of territory over the past two months.
Among the Russian war dead were Russian conscripts and reservists who had recently rushed to the battlefield to reinforce the crumbling Russian lines and stem Russian losses.
“Russia will come out of this war weaker than it started,” Kahl said, reflecting on Putin’s overall war efforts in Ukraine.
In the latest humiliation on the battlefield, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his forces to retreat to the southern city of Kherson, the first major city and only regional capital to be captured by Moscow since its invasion in late February. As Ukrainian forces continued to advance towards the city, a complete withdrawal of the Russians would mark a major victory for Kyiv.
“I don’t know what victory looks like,” Kahl said during remarks this week. “But I know that Russia will not have achieved the goals that Vladimir Putin has set. And that is almost a guarantee.”
