A new report has revealed the massive number of casualties and injuries that Russia has suffered in its almost two-year war with Ukraine.
The information comes from a new intelligence report from the U.S. that was declassified. A source who was familiar with the information included in the document spoke to Reuters this week and said there were about 360,000 troops that Russia started its invasion with.
To this point, at least 315,000 of those troops have either been injured or killed. That amounts to almost 90% of its total troop force.
Quoting the report, the source told Reuters:
“The scale of losses has forced Russia to take extraordinary measures to sustain its ability to fight. Russia declared a partial mobilization of 300,000 personnel in late 2022 and has relaxed standards to allow recruitment of convicts and older civilians.”
The report also included information on Russia’s military equipment. The country started the invasion with 3,100 tanks, for instance, and it has lost 2,200 of those. Reuters’ report also highlighted that even after Russia’s army started filling in gaps with T-62 tanks that were created back in the 1970s, the country still only has roughly 1,300 total tanks in operation.
This information shows just how deadly Russia’s war with Ukraine has been so far, and just how much the country underestimated how successful it was going to be. At the start of the invasion, Russia expected to go in and be victorious quickly. That, of course, hasn’t even come close to happening.
Still, Russia is pushing forward in its war effort, despite all these losses.
On Wednesday, it launched a missile attack on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. That attack injured 53 people, according to officials.
On Telegram, Ukraine’s Air Force posted that the air defense systems in the country were able to take down the 10 ballistic missiles that were targeting Kyiv. The injuries that occurred happened because of falling debris.
In addition to the 53 injuries, the military administration in Kyiv said 35 buildings also sustained damage.
All of this comes in the same week that President Joe Biden revealed another military aid package to Ukraine that would total $200 million. He made that announcement while Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was in Washington, D.C., to visit the White House and meet with other congressional leaders.
He took the trip to plead for additional military aid so Ukraine could continue defending itself against the Russian onslaught.
As Biden said during the on-camera meeting that was held in the Oval Office:
“I just signed another $200 million drawdown for the Department of Defense for Ukraine, and that’ll be coming.”
It’s possible that could be the final package of military aid that the U.S. sends to Ukraine for a while, though, as Republicans and Democrats are haggling over including more aid in the annual defense spending bill.
