Austin: Russia's military capabilities are now weaker than when they started war against Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says that due to significant losses, Russia's military capabilities are now much weaker than when it started the war against Ukraine.
He said this at a press conference after the meeting of the International Coordinating Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which took place at the U.S. air base in Germany on Tuesday.
"We do want to make it harder for Russia to threaten his neighbors and, and leave them less able to do that," Austin said.
According to him, in the 62 days of the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine, its army has suffered "pretty substantial" casualties both in terms of personnel and in terms of weapons. "They [the Russians] are, in fact, in terms of military capability weaker than when they started. It will be harder for them to replace some of this capability as they go forward, because of the sanctions and the trade restrictions that have been placed on them. We would like to make sure that they do not have the same type of capability to bully their neighbors that we saw at the outset of this conflict," the U.S. Secretary of Defense said.