Russia has ‘suffered a not-insignificant amount of attrition,’ Pentagon says

.

The Russian military has lost “a not-insignificant amount” of personnel, weaponry, and resources in the roughly three months since invading Ukraine, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

Russia has lost nearly a thousand tanks, “well over” 350 artillery pieces, almost three dozen fighter bomber fixed-wing aircraft, and more than 50 helicopters during the war in Ukraine, the official told reporters on Thursday.

INVADING FORCES DEPORT OVER 230,000 UKRAINIAN CHILDREN TO RUSSIA, KYIV SAYS

The Pentagon assesses that Russia still has roughly 110 battalion tactical groups in Ukraine, which the official previously said are made up of roughly 800 to 1,000 service members. The Russian military committed “more than 80% of their total” BTGs.

“They have invested an awful lot of their hardware and their personnel in this fight, and they have suffered losses — the Ukrainians have suffered losses too,” the official explained, addressing a reporter. “We still believe, though, with all that, Tara, that they still have a significant amount of the majority of their capability left to them.“

“The Russians do have a superiority here in terms of the numbers of assets they can apply to this fight, both in terms of people and equipment and weapons,” the official continued. “It’s not to say that the Ukrainians have not been just incredibly skillful in fighting back, and, of course, the entire rest of the world is doing what we can to replenish our own expenditure of — of systems and weapons.”

In terms of developments in Ukraine, the official said the Pentagon assessed that Russia has made “incremental gains in its push towards Slovyansk and Kramatorsk,” while there is still fighting “for control over the town of Lehman.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Russia hasn’t “made much progress” in its attempts essentially to cut off the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas, where Moscow’s military efforts are currently focused. The region has a large pro-Russian separatist faction that has fought with Ukrainians on the land for more than half a decade.

Related Content

Related Content