The Russian army will emerge weakened from the war with Ukraine, because it suffered enormous losses: this is the assessment drawn by one of the senior officials of the German army, after almost two years of conflict, in a daily interview South German Zeitung.
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With our correspondent in Berlin, Blandine Milcent
Russia is suffering “enormous” losses not only in men, but also in equipment, says Christian Freuding, a senior Bundeswehr official responsible for Ukraine and one of the main advisers to the German Defense Minister. The general relies on figures provided by Western intelligence services: 300,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or seriously injured in almost two years of conflict, he tells the daily South German Zeitung.
The general, who is also one of the main advisers to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, confirmed an assessment by American intelligence services which had leaked on December 12, and according to which 315,000 Russian soldiers were injured or killed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A capacity for resistance
But at the same time, “ the Russians still manage to recruit staff, among other things by bringing in prisoners » on the front, estimated General Freunding. President Vladimir Putin recently indicated that Russia had managed to voluntarily recruit 486,000 troops for the army in 2023.
As for material losses, the number of tanks and armored vehicles put out of service is in the thousands. Furthermore, Russia has not achieved its goals: 80% of Ukrainian territory is free, and the Ukrainian army has managed to retake 50% of the areas occupied by the Russians.
However, Christian Freuding believes that we have underestimated the resistance capacities of Russia which, despite the sanctions, has invested massively in the arms industry, which benefits from the support of North Korea or the China, and which, he warns, could renew its capacities in a few years.
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