Putin Reveals Greater Tank Losses Than Russia Has Admitted Before

Russia has lost 54 tanks in the course of Ukraine's current counteroffensive so far, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, in a rare concession of the Kremlin's military losses.

Ukraine has spent months planning a concerted push against Russian troops, and analysts and officials are reporting Ukrainian gains to the south and east of the country in areas that Russia has claimed as annexed.

Moscow has said Ukraine's counteroffensive began on June 4, but that Russia's troops had crushed the effort to push back Russian forces in contested areas. Ukraine's confirmation of the beginning of the counteroffensive came shortly after, although Kyiv has divulged few operational details.

But in an unusual comment on Russian military losses, the Kremlin leader told Russian military bloggers and journalists on Tuesday that Moscow's troops had lost 54 tanks when discussing the ongoing counteroffensive. Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on June 6 that Russia had lost 15 tanks and nine armored vehicles in counteroffensive engagements. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine had lost 20 tanks over the previous day.

Some of these 54 tanks will be restored and repaired, Putin said, alleging that Ukraine had lost 160 tanks and more than 360 armored vehicles. An unnamed U.S. official told the Associated Press that the Russian leader's comments were "not accurate."

In the early days of the war, Russia criminalized the spread of "fake" information about the ongoing conflict, covering any information or casualty numbers not explicitly confirmed by the Defense Ministry. In December, Putin himself faced calls for punishment under this law, after he referred to the "special military operation," Russia's official term for the conflict, as a "war."

Since June 4, Russia has lost 114 tanks, according to statistics provided by Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces. Newsweek is unable to independently verify either count.

Both sides have said the other has sustained significant casualty counts and lost military equipment in recent weeks. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine suffer catastrophic losses in manpower and equipment," the Russian Defense Ministry said, while Ukraine's General Staff said on Wednesday that Moscow's forces "are in panic mode" and are sustaining "crazy losses in manpower."

"We have ten times fewer losses than the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Putin said on Tuesday.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia publishes tallies of their own military losses. On Tuesday, Russia said Ukraine had lost a total of 9,939 tanks and armored vehicles since February 2022. As of Wednesday, Kyiv said Russia had lost access to 3,943 tanks and 7,653 armored personnel vehicles since the outbreak of full-scale war.

According to the Dutch open-source outlet, Oryx, Russia has lost 2,041 tanks since February 24, 2022. Of these, 1,271 were destroyed, and 544 were captured by Ukraine, according to this count. However, this only includes visually-confirmed losses, and the real total could be higher. It also does not account for other types of armored military vehicles. For the same period, Ukraine has lost 528 tanks, Oryx said, adding that four Western-provided Leopard tanks have been taken out of action.

In mid-February 2023, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that Moscow had lost almost 40 percent of its pre-war tank fleet following nine months of bitter fighting in Ukraine. This figure rose higher, to 50 percent for some of Russia's key combat tanks.

This coincided with comments made by former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who said Russia needed to "increase production of various armaments including modern tanks," in response to Western tank donations to Ukraine.

Experts say Ukraine is still in the initial reconnaissance phase of its counteroffensive, where its military will be probing the front lines to test Russia's defenses.

Ukrainian forces have continued to make territorial gains in the south and east of the country, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said on Tuesday.

In his latest nightly address, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said there had been "advancement in different areas" along the front.

"We have certain successes, we are implementing our plans, we are moving forward," Ukraine's top soldier, General Valery Zaluzhny, said in a post on social media on Tuesday.