Russia's military "badly weakened" as war drags on: Pentagon

Russia's military is "badly weakened" from the grueling war in Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said, as Russian and Ukrainian troops face another second winter of fighting.

After 21 months of all-out war, "the Russian military has been badly weakened," Austin said during an address at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday.

The many months of attritional warfare has exacted a high cost on both Russia and Ukraine, but Western analysts and governments have suggested the conflict has torn apart much of Russia's military strength. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.