Some 315,000 Russian troops have been
killed or wounded in Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, nearly 90
per cent of its pre-war force, said a congressional source on Tuesday.
The Russian military has also lost some
2,200 of the 3,500 tanks it had before the start of the conflict, the source
said, citing a declassified US intelligence assessment shared with Congress.
The document emerged as Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington seeking to convince an
increasingly skeptical Congress that the war with Russia could be won with
continued US funding.
Zelensky met with congressional leaders
on Tuesday before scheduled talks at the White House with President Joe Biden.
The latest casualty assessment marks a
big leap from that provided in July 2022 when CIA director Bill Burns said US
intelligence estimated that Russian losses were “in the vicinity of 15,000
killed and maybe three times that wounded.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have been deeply
reticent about providing casualty figures from the war.
Russian casualties of 315,000 killed or
wounded would amount to 87 percent of the country’s pre-war military force of
360,000.
The Wall Street Journal, citing the
declassified US intelligence assessment, said the conflict in Ukraine “has
sharply set back 15 years of Russian effort to modernize its ground force.”
To make up for the heavy losses, Russia
has resorted to “extraordinary measures” such has conscripting released prisoners
and sending them to the front, it added.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson
insisted after the meeting with Zelensky that his party would not approve Biden’s
request for $60 billion in fresh assistance for Kyiv unless Democrats meet
their demands on immigration.
AFP
