Topline A U. S. intelligence report released Tuesday revealed Russia has lost approximately 315,000 troops to death or injuries since the invasion of Ukraine began nearly two years ago, putting Russia’s losses staggeringly higher than the Kremlin has reported and far outpacing Ukrainian losses.
Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on Dec. 01, 2023. Key Facts The figure represents 87% of Russia’s roughly 360,000 pre-war troops it had in February 2022, according to the report provided to lawmakers.
Russia has suffered major blows to its military arsenal since its invasion began, losing roughly 2,200 of its 3,500 battle tanks, and one-third of its armored vehicles, according to the report. While the Kremlin has shrouded its losses in the invasion in secrecy, the U. S.
intelligence report paints a grim picture of what nearly two years of ongoing conflict has done to Russian forces. Russia’s losses, according to the report, far outpace the number of troops Moscow last said it had lost as of November 2022, when Russia’s Defense Ministry reported 5,937 troop deaths, the AFP , though recent reports from U. S.
and U. K. officials have put that number significantly higher.
A U. S. intelligence official told the in August that Moscow’s casualties, including dead and injured troops, were nearing 300,000, with roughly 120,000 deaths and between 170,000 and 180,000 injured (the Times reported at the time Ukrainian forces had suffered 70,000 deaths and between 100,000 and 120,000 injuries).
The U. K. Ministry of Defence also this week it estimates Russia has suffered up to 50,000 deaths and 240,000 injuries since the start of the war, in addition to an estimated 20,000 deaths of Wagner Group mercenary troops and 40,000 Wagner injuries.
Tangent Lawmakers have been at loggerheads over supplemental military aid for Ukraine, with GOP House members demanding border security measures along the U. S. -Mexico border in exchange, a demand that has held up an aid package for weeks.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La. ) told the Biden administration last week an aid package would be “dependent” on “transformative change” in U. S.
border policy, calling the border a “catastrophe” with “record illegal immigration. ” Johnson Tuesday that GOP lawmakers are seeking “clarity on what we’re doing in Ukraine” in addition to border security measures, despite previously he was “confident” the House would pass a Ukraine aid package by the end of the year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who a highly anticipated virtual Senate address earlier this month, met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday afternoon as part of his most recent plea for U.
S. military spending, though he was met with heavy pushback from congressional Republicans over increased aid for the war-torn country. Contra White House officials House members in a letter last week the U.
S. is “out of money” and “nearly out of time” to support Ukraine without an agreement for additional spending. Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, argued in the letter that a break in support for Ukraine “will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield.
As of November, the U. S. has spent roughly $111 billion in funding on Ukraine, including for economic assistance and humanitarian aid, in addition to military support.
What To Watch For It’s not clear how many troops have been killed of the 315,000 cited in the report. Further Reading (Forbes) (Forbes).
From: forbes
URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/12/12/315000-russian-troops-have-been-killed-or-injured-in-ukraine-us-says-far-more-than-russia-claims/
