Tue, December 12, 2023 at 12:43 PM EST
Russia has lost a staggering 87 percent of the total number of active-duty ground troops it had prior to launching its invasion of Ukraine and two-thirds of its pre-invasion tanks, a source familiar with a declassified US intelligence assessment provided to Congress told CNN.
Still, despite heavy losses of men and equipment, Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to push forward as the war approaches its two-year anniversary early next year and US officials are warning that Ukraine remains deeply vulnerable. A highly anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive stagnated through the fall, and US officials believe that Kyiv is unlikely to make any major gains over the coming months.
The assessment, sent to Capitol Hill on Monday, comes as some Republicans have balked at the US providing additional funding for Ukraine and the Biden administration has launched a full-court press to try to get supplemental funding through Congress.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington on Tuesday, meeting with US lawmakers and President Joe Biden in desperate bid to secure the military and economic aid he says is vital to Ukraine’s ability to maintain the fight against Russia.
Russia has been able to keep its war effort going despite the heavy losses by relaxing recruitment standards and dipping into Soviet-era stockpiles of older equipment. Still, the assessment found that the war has “sharply set back 15 years of Russian effort to modernize its ground force.”
Of the 360,000 troops that entered Ukraine, including contract and conscript personnel, Russia has lost 315,000 on the battlefield, according to the assessment. 2,200 of 3,500 tanks have been lost, according to the assessment. 4,400 of 13,600 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers have also been destroyed, a 32 percent loss rate.
“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.”
CNN has reached out to the Russian Embassy in Washington for comment.
But it is the political environment in Washington that presents perhaps the greatest peril for Ukraine. Some Republicans are stiffly rejecting any additional funding and Senate Republicans are insisting on making it part of a broader spending package to include money for Israel, Taiwan and the US southern border. The Biden administration is warning that the US will soon be out of money for Ukraine.
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“The idea that Ukraine was going to throw Russia back to the 1991 borders was preposterous,” Sen. J.D. Vance, a Republican from Ohio, said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “So what we’re saying to the president and really to the entire world is, you need to articulate what the ambition is. What is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn’t?”
Other newly declassified intelligence previously reported by CNN suggests that “Russia seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage despite Russian losses and persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions, and equipment,” according to a National Security Council spokesman.
“Since launching its offensive in October, we assess that the Russian military has suffered more than 13,000 casualties along the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis and over 220 combat vehicle losses-the equivalent of 6 maneuver battalions in equipment alone,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN.
Before the invasion, Russia had a total standing military of approximately 900,000 active-duty troops, including ground troops, airborne troops, special operations and other uniformed personnel, according to the CIA. Since the start of the invasion, Russia has announced plans to increase the size of the armed forces to 1.5 million. The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced several rounds of conscription, including its regular fall conscription cycle on October 1.
Russia has also leaned heavily on convicts marshaled to the fight by the Wagner Group and has increased the age limit for certain categories of citizens to remain in the reserve of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
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I don’t know any Russians killed in Ukraine, so no Russians were killed in the Ukraine.
Posting a CNN propaganda piece, as Zelensky is begging to be saved is hysterical.
But I’ve seen a lot of vidya of Ukies getting blowed up.
War is a racket.
War is hell.
I have never seen such video.
Balanced reporting. 🙂
Right along with reports that Anderson Cooper really does prefer vaginal sex.
All of the vids I see from both sides have some staggering, ridiculous body counts. The Ukies are literally throwing away men into artillery FFAs and drones are massacring squads en masse. Throw in the Russkie minefields in their deliberate defense setups and meatgrinder is an understatement.
Russia is throwing convicts into their frontal assaults and it shows with them being schwacked as well. The difference is Russian artillery and rockets. Seems thise genius Nato generals forgot about the amount of arty Russia includes in their operations. A lesson I never forgot from 90s when I was stationed in Germany.
NorKs use the same artillery scheme: mass fires, then mass rockets, then more mass fires with creeping fire as the FLOT moves with an assault.
As a forward observer, Ukraine is an FO’s wet dream for artillery shoots. For infantry and armor it is a fucken nightmare and that is not even close to describing what it really is on the receiving end of all that ordnance.
Make no mistake: both side have had their shit pushed in, but Russia has always operated with high losses in the plan.
ZFG, out.
P.S. good luck with the shell shocked on both sides. That is going to be on par with the trenches in WWI.
ZFG,
With all respect, this is a very different ballgame.
The Rooskies are working on wiping out the 4th Ukrainian army. 1.5 million fresh graves.
The first was the best NATO had to offer. Now grannies and grandpa’s are holding hands with kids to get up to 2.5 hours of life expectancy on the battle line.
The Russians are paying a price no doubt.
We poked the sleeping bear and are going to pay a very steep price.
Indeed Toad. I doubt we will ever get true number of KIA, WIA amd MIA from either side.
My best guess is somewhere upwards of 900,000 casualties for Ukraine and Russia is well into 200k territory. That is based off of all the bullshit numbers both sides throw out and official numbers combined with PMC numbers, which were probably near to truth.
I have done a variety of missions back in the army days with artillery, rockets, attack helo and CAS and I will take arty/ mortars for the primary battlefield casualty cause every time.
Before DPICM got “banned” it was something to see when those bomblets shit out of a shell and paved an area. MLRS was even more insane than HiMars. Grid squares laid to waste by rocket battalions. That was taken directly from Russian doctrine.
Point being is that all the think tanks got every last bit of it wrong on the Russian capabilities side.
Ukraine held for the first 6 months at a retarded fiscal and physical cost and now that Russia weathered the western tech, they will finish bleeding Ukrainian bodies dry and western coffers dry.
The amount of treasure pissed away by the MIC in the last 30 years is so ridiculous that I wonder what the average dollar cost per kill is?
The trillions wasted in Iraq and Afghanistan to get a stupid kill ratio is incomprehensible not to mention the sheer magnitude of waste in every capital category, equipment and personnel as well.
But hey, we still have Hamas and Hezbollah to keep thst printing press rolling.
ZFG, out.
P.S. there are some things that will never justify the cost. The last 30 years of everything comes to mind.
Link some videos.
I want to make sure NOT joining the military was a good decision.
Today, NOT joining is always a good decision.
You watch too much MSM…..
I don’t know any Russians who were killed, either. 🤣
I’ve never seen a Russian.
Then they must not exist….
I have. Sold my duplex to a Russian lady back in 2007. She was funny. As a legal immigrant she used to call the illegals cockroaches. She was pretty funny. Strong accent so sometimes it was hard to understand her. She worked at a local store I frequented so I ran into her occasionally. Eventually she left the US. She said it was starting to look like the former USSR and she wasn’t sticking around to go through that again.
Ukraine=EUSA drain.
Same intelligence agencies that said Russia would lose the war in Ukraine, said there were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, Said the Hunter lap top was Russian dis-information, Said we were were attacked in the Golf of Tonkin… yeah, I can believe them.
No kidding.
Quotes from the national insecurity counsel and the see eye A?
We can reasonably believe that the exact OPPOSITE is true.
The Ukies have lost at least 87%, and counting.
Russia will lose the war, Russia’s economy will collapse due to sanctions, Putin is dying, The Russian army is fighting with shovels, By summer Ukraine will take everything up to the Sea of Azov, Putin is dying again, The Patriot system will destroy Russia’s Air Force, The HYMARS will be a game changer, The Leopard Tanks will be a game changer, The M777 will be a game changer, The Bradly fighting vehicles will be a game changer, Putin is still dying. Gilligan, the Skipper, and Mary Ann blew up the Nord Stream pipeline using a rented sailboat, Gonzalo who? We know nothing about that……
Government is not capable of telling the truth about anything….. ever.
Man, that first sentence, “Russia has lost a staggering 87 percent of the total number of active-duty ground troops it had prior to launching its invasion of Ukraine…” Well, I don’t know why I and a platoon of babies armed with pacifiers don’t jest march into Moscow this morning. Can you not tell a LIE when you hear it. Does shit like this sound like the truth to you? “Who hath bewitched you?”
Balanced reporting 🙂
/sarc
Yep , you know without reservation that it “has been a long strange trip”indeed , to quote the Grateful Dead, who I don’t even really like , when I find myself in support of Those dastardly Rooskies . Full circle baby ! They still want us to believe , I guess, that the Rooskies had launched a conquering army to sweep west across Europe cuz they want billions funneled into the kickback scheme money laundry of the who’s who in the District Of Corruption and its attendant Military Industrial Complex merchants of Death . WTF you say ? I don’t know , guess I’m just gettin crazier by the day into my sixties , and Goddamnit,( forgive me Father, you know how I really think about you but I’m writing an unhinged rant hear ) I like it .
In summary sounds like total bullshit to me , probably projection , The Uke’s , poor bastards, they never shoulda got in bed with these” Masters of the universe” asshats outta” State ” ( dept ) who came bearing gifts and promises( and really all self serving lies) . Sarah Palin had said ” she could see Russia from her back yard ” . well I dont know bout all that but I did see a Russian Bear Bomber that had vectored us( found the American Carrier ) in the Indian Ocean (or somewhere ) I was on back in the day when the Soviet Union was still a thing . We waved at them and they waved back ( the pilots ) . Interesting , yeah it looked like a run down junker to me . But then again so did a lot of our birds so . Full circle , from cold warrior to Putin apologist in just over 40 years .
I’m more apt to beleive the Mcgreggors and the Ritters of the world than an “agency” propaganda mill these days .
Amen
” Well, I don’t know why I and a platoon of babies armed with pacifiers don’t jest march into Moscow this morning”
Because no one wants is seriously trying to win, just like no one wants to take Kiev.
No one remembers Wagner?
Thanks for posting this.
What a complete crock of shit!
It did give me a chuckle. Anyone believing this, wow, the delusion must be really empowering.
Sure and Putin has cancer one lie after another. If true I would guess they have replaced most of it.
US intelligence=Oxymoron
Russia Near Complete Collapse After Losing 1,678,666% of Their Armed Forces.
USINTEl huh?
Hey? USINTEL?
You left the barn door open!
When someone is reliably wrong it offers the same level of dependability as someone who is reliably correct.
If our government intelligence apparatus tells you something about OPFOR, they are almost certainly incorrect. If they warn that the threat is great, it is not, if they say the enemy is weak, it is strong. If they tell you we are winning, we are losing and visa versa.
My first experiences with this reality happened when I was a young airborne infantryman trained daily to stand up to the (non-existent) Soviet armor threat. Five years after I left the military the USSR collapsed and we discovered that everything we’d been told about their capabilities were completely fiction. Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars allegedly spent on Humint and satellite surveillance over decades they were completely incapable of making an accurate assessment. Whether we are talking about incompetence or deliberate misdirection, who knows, but that this is the the reality we live with is indisputable.
Prove me wrong.
I think misinformation / disinformation is on steroids now. Everything I listen to has a component of propaganda. I have a healthy distrust of almost everything I’m hearing these days on the middle east war, the Ukraine war, the election, the people in the election, etc., etc., etc.
Yes, on both sides. Alt media, too.
It’s called the Great Deception. We were warned.
Yes, a LOT of deception. But, I don’t think it is the Great Deception. Here is my 2 cents on what I think it may be. It is based on my Christian worldview and verses discussing the end times.
As more people, and companies, and governments, are being exposed for the corrupt bastards they are, the globalist system as it exists today is going to be brought down. Many are going to go be tried and will either be locked away for good and, some will be executed in the public square.
There will be a period of peace and a sense that “we got ’em!”
Many will have been deceived by the round-up of a lot of key evil players and it will look like the good guys are winning or have won. However, this false peace will then allow Satan to usher in the real, NWO, under him and his minions. At
In summary, Satan is going to allow many of the current globalist players to be brought down as his own “false flag” to usher in the real end times cabal that he will lead.
Those are my thoughts; yours may be different! 😉
Perhaps you are correct. I don’t know. I don’t think anyone really knows.
My plan is to stay in my lane & watch the chaos & not trust most of what I hear/read in current news.
On that we are in total agreement. And, you are correct; none of us know what is coming next. It’s really mostly a waste of time to speculate. What I do know, as it is right in our faces is that tyranny continues to rise; liberties continue to decline; and much more chaos is just around the corner.
Keep your powder dry!
As I don’t trust any current news to tell me the sky is blue I’m genuinely interested in what you hear/read in current news you do trust. You are correct that no one really knows the truth….and therein lies the core problem.
Thought of you when I saw this:
We are a country of 70 MILLION rabid gun owners armed to the teeth. Bound together against a single enemy will be the all time largest standing army in history. I don’t care how many Russian troops are left, they only have 144 million citizens total and we have almost half that number in armed and ready Americans.
Armed, for sure, BL. Ready? Not so sure about that.
MC- You GET ready when the times require you get ready. Believe it.
Which reminded me of this….
(
Have seen this before 🥰. For anyone who is as lazy as me to click the link:
Aw…sweet picture. Love it. ❤️
I really can’t think of anything I do trust in the news right now – from both sides of the aisle. I guess what it shows me is to continue my path of being in the world and not of it.
I try to participate in the system as little as I possibly can (not 100%, but as much as I can & still function). That’s what the news does for me…reminds me not to get involved in stupid bullshit.
What I do trust is my intuition, my ability to understand human nature, my creator and His guidance that I can feel so strongly (sorry RD, but truth is truth), and what I can see, touch, hear, and experience with my own senses without a screen present. I don’t even trust videos so much anymore because they can be easily manipulated to anyone’s agenda, and everyone has an agenda that most likely doesn’t align with mine.
I come here to see what the bullshit of the day is, and to poke holes in arguments (so easy to do, btw), and to play, and to make myself laugh…not to take any of the news seriously.
Can you give an example of someone who is reliably correct? (Other than me)
^^^ See what I mean, T4C? Pretty sure the downvotes are for this:
(Other than me)
…which I added because it made me laugh. Getting under HSF’s skin is just a little too fun that I can’t resist sometimes.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/
The why is the real kicker.
Must be the same source who claimed Russia ran out of missiles 5 times already.
‘Russia has lost a staggering 87 percent of the total number of active-duty ground troops’…etc.
B.S.
The propaganda is silly and ridiculous. Get your waders folks, it’s going to get much much deeper.
Exactly!! If Russia had lost 87% of those forces and weapons then why hasn’t Ukraine won? Why do the talking heads and their sycophants keep blathering about the threat of Russia walking across Europe as conquerors after defeating Ukraine…come oooooonnnn.
The bullshit is deep with these people.
Hey, just like Uncle Joe whipped inflation. When one gets the most votes ever one can do magical things.
why shouldn’t they lie, spew and ‘teach’ propaganda and lies. It’s mostly all they do in schools ‘these days’. Memorize and repeat , do not think for yourselves! They are right you must be corrected and re-educated.
‘Snow Is Black’ Syndrome Taught In Our Schools
Nothing in this article is true. The Russians have not committed more than 5% of their regular Army to Ukraine. Most the ~50k dead “Russians” are in fact Donbass/Luhansk state militias. NAFO has lost and been totally humiliated by Russias VASTLY superior military-industrial complex.
“~50k”
So they have a 20 to 1 kill ratio, not in a battle, but in an entire war?
Can anyone find an example of this happening, ever?
This article is the biggest bunch of BS so far. The Russians are reeling, so Zelensky is here to get much more money to finally finish them off. CNN must have hired Bagdad Bob for this one.
I feel sorry for Bagdad Bob. He could have defected and made a fortune doing standup on SNL.
The US is sweating bullets trying to put lipstick on this pig. The US and NATO got its ass kicked, and now they are in damage control mode trying to say, OK it is a draw…. LOL That is going to be a little hard to do though when Russia forces Ukraine to surrender to obtain peace…
This info coming from a branch of the treasonous democrat party government ran all the TRUE AMERICAN PATROITS out of the military to create a faggot/nigger force to roll over to the planned chink takeover of the former US is a real hoot.
History will show Mark Miley as the greatest traitor in history.
Plus hes a fucking faggot who sucked admiral levines sick-kike cock !
I do not know… there are so many competing for being the greatest traitor. Biden, Blinken, Sullivan, Austin, Kirby, Nuland, all are in contention for that title. What we do know is they all deserve to be executed for treason and the sentence should be carried out with extreme prejudice, to make them pay the maximum price for their crimes….
87 percent of the total number of active-duty ground troops it had prior to launching its invasion of Ukraine
Without “the total number” 87% is meaningless propaganda.
Did they start out with 10,000?
50,000?
Have they replenished with 100,000?
87% of a carefully parsed then not relayed TOTAL number is propaganda intended to IMPLY THAT 87% of the Russian military was wiped out.
Without all the info.. such headlines are stinking click bait for dummies.
Without all the info.. such headlines are stinking click bait for dummies.
Which is why I clicked. 😉
“Oceania’s troops are victorious on the battlefield against Eurasia. Eurasia has lost 87% of the Platoon that was eating lunch at Pink’s.”
The US lost Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan due to war fatigue at home, not military defeat. What makes Russia so much different? Remember, they lost in Afghanistan from war fatigue also. If it is important enough to the Ukrainians, they will hold on until the Russians get tired of dead boys and go home.
Those weren’t wars.
Those were ads for military merchandise.
but, my khinzals…
the difference is nato is at their door, unlike the conflicts you annotate which were far away from this nation.
if it is an “exercise”, fatigue can set it; if it means national destruction, fatigue does not set in.
Nope. The current Russian attitude to their war is that it’s a Patriot War, one fought to preserve the existence of Russia. They won’t stop until the Ukies get ground down to a total collapse. Russia will annex at least half of Ukraine, and give parts to other countries who are still sore that part of their land got taken by Ukraine years ago.
You should try actually listening to what patriots say.
Reminds me of when US was wining in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The methodology then was the same with US intel as it is now. Hey, look we have destroyed the N. Vietnamese, Iraqi, armies and the Afghanistan Taliban so victory is near! Here are the numbers to PROVE it! We all know how those wars worked out for US. Same story from US intel different war. I am sure we will get a report from US intel any day now saying Hamas is 85% destroyed.
I suppose, just coincidentally, that Russian intelligence is now reporting that the U.S. lost/left 85% of their military equipment when they withdrew from Afghanistan?!
OK, how much bullshit are you prepared to believe, covid was a deadly disease, climate change will kill us all Biden got 80 million votes, and Russia lost 87% of it’s troops.
This one is fact, most people are stupid.
ALL I need to know that this article is a total crock is that the listed author works for CNN (CIA).
Cue the laugh track.
Boy I’ve seen some total bullshit in my life but this article takes the cake. 87% my ass. Now if they really are talking about the Ukrainian army then that number might be realistic.
That is the liberal MO, they accuse someone else of what is actually true about them….
You get what you ask for.
That last 13% must some tough SOBs….
Ukraine’s Elite 47th Mechanised Brigade Surrounded and Low on Ammunition: Critical Front Faces Collapse
The Ukrainian Army’s elite 47th Mechanised Brigade stationed in the town of Avdiivka in the disputed Donetsk region has been surrounded and forced to contend with growing ammunition shortages, according to multiple reports from Ukrainian and Western sources. British reports indicate that the brigade was meant to attack a Russian column before it linked up with assault infantry on the northern flank of Avdievka, but failed to do so due to a lack of ammunition. The brigade’s efforts to stop the advance of Russian forces in Avdievka were described by The Times as “desperate,” fuelling perceptions of an “inevitable collapse” of Ukrainian positions, and diminished hope of preventing a Russian victory by the beginning of the New Year holidays. The brigade’s elite status in the Ukrainian Army is reflected by its deployment of some of the country’s newest military equipment, with its tank battalion operating Leopard 2A6s while its mechanised infantry battalions use newly refurbished American Bradley fighting vehicles – and its 1st Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion American M109 howitzers. Leopard 2s and Bradleys have taken heavy losses since the initiation of a failed months long offensive by Ukrainian forces against Russian positions in early June, forcing many analysts to revise prior presumptions of their survivability.
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/47th-mechbrigade-surrounded-lowammo
The implausible propaganda isn’t for this informed audience. It is for the 49% of below average IQ voters. Carving out that other 1.5% needed for a marginal election win comes in thru tilting (always) undecided voters, and the usual grab bag of polimerc craft.
BS ends when we’ve had enough.
Kill Whitey
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