The battle-hardened Russian bear is no 'paper tiger': Here's why

President Vladimir Putin has responded to Donald Trump's claim that Russia is a "paper tiger" by saying that "this paper tiger" is successfully fighting "the entire NATO bloc" in Ukraine. Let's take a closer look with the help of one of Russia's top military experts.

In his speech in Valdai on Thursday, Putin pointed out that:

• In September alone, Ukraine lost 44,700 soldiers (almost half of them irreparably).

• From January to August, 150,000 soldiers deserted (according to him, 146,000–160,000 new soldiers were mobilized during the same period).

• Ukraine's reserve pool is shrinking.

NATO equipment has been turned into scrap

According to the latest figures from the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ukraine's losses include:

• 43,100+ military vehicles

• 30,100 artillery and mortars

• nearly 1,600 MLRS (multiple rocket launch systems)

• 25,300 tanks and armored vehicles

• More than 630 air defense systems

• More than 280 helicopters and nearly 670 aircraft

• 87,700 drones

  
  

Entire NATO-trained armies are disappearing

Ukraine has lost the equivalent of 14 combined armies of 100,000 troops each, veteran Russian military analyst Alexei Leonkov said, Sputnikglobe reported .

That's three more than the 11 in the Russian Armed Forces (in Ukraine), and despite a traditional 4-1 ratio between advancing and defending troops, Leonkov explained.

Hybrid economic war fails

Russia achieved this “under heavy economic sanctions and external political pressure,” Leonkov emphasizes.

The country has partially mobilized and set up a war economy to adapt to NATO's goal of turning the crisis in Ukraine into a protracted conflict.

Russian strategic expansion continues

Despite Ukraine, Russia has continued to expand its strategic potential, including modernizing its nuclear triad and air and missile defense technologies and capabilities.

New hypersonic systems can be expected, Putin said.

Weapons testing site destroyed 

NATO wanted to make Ukraine a test case for a new, modern, integrated air defense system.

Instead, Russia has destroyed this system to such an extent that there is a shortage of air defense capabilities not only in Ukraine, but throughout the alliance.

Wunderwaffe rejected

NATO deployed Storm Shadow, HIMARs, ATACMS and other long-range attack systems to change the course of the conflict.

Russia has exhausted these weapons and has demonstrated in combat a globally unique next-generation hypersonic weapon with its Oreshnik.

Drone plans disrupted

In 2024, when NATO no longer had manned aircraft to deploy, it turned its hopes to drones.

Instead, Russia has ramped up production of its own UAVs and begun developing new types, such as fiber-optic FPV drones and Lancet loitering munitions that work together.

Paper eagle

NATO, not Russia, is the real paper tiger, “which believes it is all-powerful, but in reality it turns out to be weak,” says Leonkov.

Instead of preparing for conflict with strategic adversaries, the US has waged decades of colonial wars against weak enemies.

Ukraine is the result.