US intelligence: Russia loses almost entire pre-war army
Estimates of Russian casualties in Ukraine have long differed widely. After London recently cited a high six-figure figure, US intelligence agencies have now come to a similar assessment. Their conclusion: there is not much left of the troops that Putin sent into the war in 2022.
US intelligence agencies estimate that a total of 315,000 Russian soldiers have been injured or killed since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022. According to parliamentary circles in Washington, citing declassified documents from the services, this corresponds to 87% of the armed forces, which numbered 360,000 soldiers before the war. The Russian army had also lost 2,200 of its 3,500 tanks before the start of the war. The independent analysis portal Oryx estimates the losses of Russian tanks to be even higher.
The information became public at the same time as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi visited Washington to ask for further US military aid in the war against Russia. Citing the documents, theWall Street Journal reported that the war had set the Russian armed forces back 15 years in their modernization efforts. On the battlefield, however, the Kremlin troops have recently been able to achieve successes again.
British estimate similarly high
The British Ministry of Defense recently estimated the number of Russians killed at around 70,000. This figure includes 50,000 regular soldiers and 20,000 members of the Wagner private army, the Ministry of Defense announced at the beginning of December. The founder of Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has since been killed, had himself once put the number of mercenaries killed in the fighting for Bachmut in eastern Ukraine at 20,000. By the end of November, London estimated the number of wounded at 180,000 to 240,000 soldiers and 40,000 Wagner fighters.
"This gives a total estimated range of 290,000 to 350,000 casualties among Russian combatants. The median estimate is a total of 320,000 Russian casualties," it continued.
Washington is Kiev's most important supporter in the war against the Russian invasion forces. Last week, however, the opposition US Republicans rejected US President Joe Biden's request for further financial aid of 61.4 billion dollars for Ukraine for the time being. In the coming months, Kiev will need numerous weapons, including those that have not yet been delivered, and an enormous amount of ammunition.
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Despite the significant losses suffered by the Russian army, with estimates suggesting 315,000 soldiers injured or killed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russian troops have managed to achieve some recent successes on the battlefield. Recently, US intelligence agencies concluded that Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, visited Washington to seek further US military aid, recognizing the need for additional weapons and ammunition as the conflict with Russia continues.
Source: www.ntv.de
