Pentagon chief: It will take Russia quite a while to recover from damage created by Ukraine

Following the military actions, Ukrainian warriors have taken back half the ground that Russians had originally occupied, as well as inflicted significant damage on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and land forces.

The relevant statement was made by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin at a briefing in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“If you look at the damage that they’ve created to Russians’ land forces overall, it’s significant, and it will take Russia quite a while to recover from that in order to create the kinds of force that it had before this began. So, we have to give credit where credit is due,” Austin said.

In his words, Ukrainians are conducting a tough and grinding fight. It is important  to learn from operations in the past, make the right adjustments, and anticipate that the enemy will also adjust accordingly.

A reminder that, on November 20, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin arrived in Kyiv and held talks with the Ukrainian leadership.

Later this week, Austin will host the 17th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group virtually from the Pentagon with nearly 50 nations expected to participate.