About 80,000 Russian military personnel have died or been wounded in Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.
“The Russians will likely have between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties in less than six months,” said US Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl.
Kahl also assured that Russian forces lost “3,000 or 4,000” armored vehicles and may have exhausted their precisionguided missiles after firing a large quantity at Ukraine.
These losses are “important, considering that the Russians failed to achieve any of Vladimir Putin’s goals at the start of the war,” he told reporters, referring to the Russian president.
The official warned that the reduced use of longrange precisionguided missiles by Russian troops was an indicator that their arsenal was close to what should be held in reserve for “other contingencies.”
Kahl acknowledged that the Ukrainians also recorded significant battlefield casualties, but gave no figures.
“Both sides are suffering casualties. The war is the most intense conventional conflict in Europe since World War II,” he said. “But the Ukrainians have many advantages, one of which is their willingness to fight.”
Ukraine has recorded at least 10,000 dead and 30,000 wounded among its troops.
According to a military source who asked not to be identified, when the war began on February 24, the Ukrainian army had 170,000 active duty soldiers and 100,000 reservists. Later the contingent was reinforced until it reached between 300,000 and 350,000 soldiers.
According to Western estimates, between 150,000 and 200,000 Russian soldiers were stationed on the borders with Ukraine before the invasion.