A man pushes his bike through the debris of destroyed Russian military vehicles on April 06, 2022, in Bucha, Ukraine.
Chris McGrath
Russia has lost nearly all of its pre-invasion ground troops, US intelligence told Congress. It said Russia has lost 87% of its 360,000 pre-invasion ground force, CNN reported. It comes as the White House seeks to persuade Republicans to unblock Ukraine aid.
Russia has lost 87% of the active-duty ground forces it had before it launched its invasion of Ukraine, a source familiar with US intelligence told CNN.
The Ukraine war cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops, according to a declassified US intelligence report seen by CNN’s source and delivered to US Congress Monday. Around 360,000 Russian ground troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
In addition, Russia lost around 2,200 of 3,500 tanks it had, and 4,400 of 13,600 infantry fighting vehicles, CNN said.
Russia’s losses in personnel and armored vehicles have set back its military modernization by 15 years, the source added.
Business Insider was unable to independently verify the figures. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to CNN, which cited the CIA, Russia had a total of 900,000 active-duty troops before the invasion, including air force, special forces, and ground forces.
The losses that Ukraine has inflicted on Russia, with the help of $75 billion in US aid, are so large that Russia has been forced to scale back its military ambitions in Ukraine, the assessment said, per CNN.
“As of late November, Russia lost over a quarter of its pre-invasion stockpiles of ground forces equipment,” the assessment reads. “This has reduced the complexity and scale of Russian offensive operations, which have failed to make major gains in Ukraine since early 2022.”
The release of the figures comes as President Joe Biden seeks to persuade Republicans in the House to pass a new $61 billion aid package to Ukraine amid partisan squabbling.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday traveled to Washington, DC, to make a personal appeal to US lawmakers, saying global democracy was on the line in the fight against Russia.
Despite high casualties, Russia continues to occupy large swaths of east and south Ukraine.
A much-vaunted counteroffensive launched by Ukraine in the summer has made only limited gains against heavily fortified Russian defenses.
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that Western support for Ukraine will begin to ebb away the longer the conflict goes on, analysts say.
In recent weeks, the assessment obtained by CNN said, Russia has lost around 13,000 men in attacks near the city of Avdiikva.
Amid steep casualties, Russia has launched a recruitment drive to strengthen its military, changed military rules to allow service members to serve for longer, and recruited prisoners to battalions used in head-on assaults on Ukrainian positions.
Russia also mobilized around 300,000 civilians into the military last year.