Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he believes Ukraine has lost 25% to 30% of the military vehicles supplied to Kiev by Western countries since the start of its counter-offensive.
He added that Ukraine’s human losses are 10 times more than Russia’s. Putin made the comments on Tuesday during a televised meeting with military bloggers.
He said Russia had lost 54 of its tanks in combat, some of which could be repaired. Ukraine, he said, lost over 160 tanks.
He also said Ukraine was responsible for last week’s breach of the Kakhovka Dam, which he said was caused by Kiev’s shelling of it with US-made HIMARS missile systems.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify his claims.
The Russian president also said he saw no need to impose martial law in Russia amid a recent increase in Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes and ground force incursions into Russian territory.
Meeting with military bloggers after weeks of shelling of the border region of Belgorod and a wave of drone attacks on Moscow itself, Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil are a problem and that Russia needs to better defend its borders.
The Russian president said, finally, that the goals of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine may evolve depending on the situation, but their fundamental character will not change.
