Putin Has Met with Failure, Says US Deputy Secretary of Defense

Russia has likely lost half of its main battle tanks and has used up most of its precision-guided weapons, said Colin Kahl, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy. According to him, the military campaign in Ukraine has been a significant strategic failure for the Kremlin.

“Putin has met with failure. Russia will come out of this war weaker than it was before it started,” Kahl is quoted by CNN.

Kahl also stated that sanctions and export controls will make it very difficult for the Russian army to recover to pre-war levels. He also noted that Russian losses in Ukraine have already far exceeded those of the USSR in Afghanistan.

“Putin went into this war trying to eliminate Ukraine as an independent sovereign democratic country. He has failed, and that will not change. A sovereign, independent, democratic Ukraine will prevail,” Kahl said.

He emphasized that the US administration is not pressuring Ukrainian authorities to sit at the negotiating table with Russia, and that Ukraine should determine when and under what conditions it is ready to begin the negotiation process.

Kahl predicts that the beginning of winter will complicate large-scale offensive operations, and the intensity of military actions in Ukraine should decrease, creating opportunities for diplomatic resolution.

“In the end, the Russians and Ukrainians will have to determine what favorable opportunities this presents for diplomacy,” said the Deputy Secretary of Defense.