Putin: 'Significant Losses, Inferior Weapons'
In a rare admission, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Friday that Russia is sustaining “significant losses” in the war on Ukraine.
“In recent days, we have seen significant losses in Ukraine, they exceed the classical figure,” he said, according to the Kremlin.
The Russian president also confessed that Russian forces were dealing with artillery problems, adding in his remarks that “Yes,
we still do not have enough of these modern weapons, but the defense industry, the country's military-industrial complex is developing rapidly.”
The dispirited comments about Moscow’s prospects in the war come just as Ukraine has launched a series of counteroffensives to push Russian forces out of the country.
The acknowledgment is a stark departure from typical messaging from Moscow. Putin and other Kremlin officials have long sought to paint the invasion as a success throughout the war, despite a stinging slew of losses and failed war plans. In March of last year, Putin claimed the operations were going according to plan, regardless of the Russian military’s failure to seize Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in an embarrassing defeat.
“It can be stated that all counteroffensive attempts made so far have failed, but the offensive potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has still been preserved,” Putin said.
The Kremlin has been working to right-size expectations within Russia about the outcome of the war. Moscow recently circulated a memo to propagandists suggesting that Russia hasn’t underestimated Ukrainian forces, in an apparent effort to set the stage for a less humiliating defeat.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia has lost approximately 213,770 troops since launching the invasion in February of last year.
At the beginning of May, the White House National Security Council assessed that Russian forces sustained 100,000 casualties since December.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putin-admits-to-significant-losses-inferior-weapons-in-war-on-ukraine
