US Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Kall said, among other things, that Russian forces have also lost “3,000 to 4,000” armored vehicles of all types and may be short of precision-guided missiles, especially air-to-surface and sea-to-surface missiles.
Nearly 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the start of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Pentagon third-in-command Colin Kall said Monday, adding that in Washington’s view, “none” of the announced targets by Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been achieved to date.
“The Russians have probably lost 70,000 or 80,000 troops in less than six months,” Mr. Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for political affairs, told reporters, clarifying that the figure included dead and wounded.
Russian forces have also lost “3,000 to 4,000” armored vehicles of all types and may be short of precision-guided missiles, especially air-to-surface and sea-to-surface missiles, the US official added.
He said it was “remarkable” that “the Russians have not achieved any of Vladimir Putin’s goals at the start of the war”.
“They’ve advanced slightly in the east, just a little bit in the last few weeks,” he said. “But this comes at an extremely heavy cost to the Russian military, because of the quality of the Ukrainian military and the international aid it has received.”
Mr. Kahl acknowledged that Ukrainian forces have also suffered heavy losses, without giving a number.
Kyiv itself has spoken of some 10,000 dead and 30,000 wounded in the ranks of the Ukrainian army.
The US secretary of state described the ongoing conflict as “the most intensive war with conventional weapons in Europe” since World War II, adding that the Ukrainians have “advantages”, especially that they “want to fight”.
According to a military source who asked not to be named, the Ukrainian armed forces, which had 170,000 active troops and 100,000 reservists when the war broke out, have been strengthened and now number 300,000 to 350,000 soldiers.
According to the calculations of the intelligence services of Western countries, before the invasion, 150,000 to 200,000 Russian soldiers had gathered on the border of Ukraine.
RES-EMP
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