About 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon chief Colin Kahl said on Monday, stressing that the goals announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin have not yet been achieved.

“The Russians probably lost 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers in less than six months,” Colin Kahl, undersecretary for policy at the US Department of Defense, told reporters, stressing that this figure includes dead and wounded, Agerpres reports.

Russian forces have also lost “3,000 or 4,000” armored vehicles and may be without high-precision missiles, especially air-to-surface and sea-to-surface missiles, he added.

“This is absolutely remarkable, given that the Russians have not achieved any of Vladimir Putin’s goals at the start of the war,” the US official continued.

“They have made some progress in the east, albeit very little in recent weeks,” he noted. “But it was extremely expensive for the Russian military because of the quality of the Ukrainian military and the international assistance it received,” the US official said.

Colin Kahl acknowledged that Ukrainian forces had also suffered heavy casualties, without elaborating.

Kyiv reported at least 10,000 dead and 30,000 wounded among its troops.

According to a military source who wished to remain unnamed, the Ukrainian army, which at the beginning of the war on February 24 was 170,000 soldiers and 100,000 reservists, was strengthened to 300,000-350,000 servicemen.

Before the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, according to Western estimates, approximately 150,000 to 200,000 Russian troops were stationed near the borders of Ukraine, AFP reminds.

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