Nearly 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the Ukraine invasion, Pentagon number three Colin Kahl said on Monday, stressing that the goals announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin have not yet been achieved. .
“The Russians lost probably 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers in less than six months,” Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for political affairs, told reporters, noting that this figure includes deaths and injuries.
At least 10,000 dead on the Ukrainian side
Russian forces also lost “3,000 to 4,000” armored vehicles and may lack precision-guided missiles, including air-to-surface and sea-to-surface missiles, it added.
“It’s quite remarkable given that the Russians failed to achieve any of Vladimir Putin’s goals at the beginning of the war,” the US official said.
“They have made some progress in the east, although very little in recent weeks,” he said. “But this came at an extraordinary cost to the Russian military because of the quality of the Ukrainian military and the international aid it received.”
Kyiv reported at least 10,000 dead and 30,000 wounded in its troops. According to a military source who requested anonymity, the Ukrainian army, which numbered 170,000 active soldiers and 100,000 reservists at the start of the war on February 24, has been reinforced to between 300,000 and 350,000 soldiers.
Before the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, between 150,000 and 200,000 Russian troops were deployed on Ukraine’s borders, according to Western estimates.
Source: BFM TV
