The war in Ukraine has cost Russia 315,000 dead and wounded soldiers, or about 87 percent of the personnel it had when the conflict began, a US intelligence report said. The declassified US intelligence report also assessed that Moscow's losses of personnel and armored vehicles to the Ukrainian army set back Russia's military modernization by 18 years, a source familiar with the intelligence told Reuters on Tuesday.
But Russian officials said Western estimates of Russian casualties in the war were greatly exaggerated and almost always underestimated Ukrainian losses.
More support for Ukraine?
The US is believed to have made the intelligence report available to bolster its view that Congress should support Kiev more. On the other hand, the declassification of the report coincided with the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington. The US assesses that Russia believes that its military stalemate with Ukraine has made it easier for Russia to win the war by reducing Western support for Kiev.
Intelligence report: 315,000 Russian troops ...
The source told Reuters that a recently declassified US intelligence report assessed that Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 with 360,000 personnel. According to the report, 315,000 Russian soldiers, or about 87 percent of the total number with which Russia began the war, have been killed or wounded since then, the source said.
"Russia loosens recruitment requirements"
"The scale of the losses forced Russia to take extraordinary measures to maintain its fighting capability. Russia announced a partial mobilization of 300,000 people in late 2022 and relaxed standards to allow the conscription of convicts and elderly civilians."
Russia has 1,300 tanks left!
According to the report, the Russian army started the war with 3,100 tanks, of which it lost 2,200 and had to replace them with T62 tanks produced in the 1970s. Only 1,300 tanks remained on the battlefield.
Kiev considers its losses a state secret, and officials say releasing the figure could damage the war effort. The US-based The New York Times reported in August that US officials said the Ukrainian death toll was closer to 70,000.
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