Russia Likely Lost Half Its Main Battle Tanks in Ukraine, Will Be Weaker:

• Russia has likely lost half its main battle tanks in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said. 
• Putin has also lost tens of thousands of troops, the Pentagon’s Colin Kahl told reporters this week.
• Because of this, “Russia will emerge from this war weaker than it went in,” he said. 

Russia has likely lost half of its main battle tanks while fighting in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said Tuesday, adding that the Russian military will end up being weaker than it was before the war began. 

Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin has “suffered a massive strategic failure” during his ongoing and unprovoked war in Ukraine.

Highlighting Putin’s military setbacks, Kahl said that Russian forces have “probably lost half of their main battle tanks” and tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine, according to a Department of Defense report published Wednesday. 

Kahl did not specify exactly how many tanks the Pentagon estimates Russia has lost, but according to open-source intelligence analysis by Oryx, at least 1,450 Russian tanks have been destroyed, captured, abandoned, or damaged over the course of the war. Notably, Russian troops fleeing Ukrainian battlefield advances have left behind modern T-90 tanks that Moscow considers to be among the most advanced in its arsenal. 

Russia has, in turn, been forced to pull old and obsolete tanks from storage — like 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 This type of tank is decades old, can even be seen in some museums, and has long since been replaced by newer, more capable systems.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 weaponry, much of which. like Russian tanks, has been repurposed by Ukraine even as it continues to enjoy considerable security assistance and military aid from Western countries. 

It’s also unclear exactly how many casualties Russia has sustained in Ukraine, but losses are believed to be…