Russia has lost 13K soldiers since October, declassified US assessment reports

Russia has lost more than 13,000 soldiers in Ukraine since beginning an October offensive push in the eastern region of the country, according to declassified U.S. intelligence.

Russian forces have also lost 220 combat vehicles in addition to the more than 13,000 soldiers on the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, the White House National Security Council (NSC) said in the declassified assessment Tuesday.

In military terminology, a “loss” refers to fighters killed, missing or too wounded to return to the battlefield.

NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the intelligence indicates the Ukrainians “are defending their country bravely and successfully.”

“But Russia is determined to press forward with its offensive despite its losses,” Watson said. “It is more critical now than ever that we maintain our support for Ukraine so they can continue to hold the line and regain their territory.”

There were also reports Tuesday that Russia has lost 315,000 troops since the beginning of the war, when it had around 360,000 soldiers.

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder could not confirm those reports at a Tuesday briefing.

“But I will take it as an opportunity to highlight the fact of the strategic failure of Russia when it comes to the objectives that it had set for itself in Ukraine,” he said. “It has cost thousands of lives on both sides.”

Russian troops launched a major offensive in the eastern Donetsk region in late October, aiming to capture the city of Avdiivka and the surrounding area.

Russia so far has failed to make any significant progress, and Moscow’s combat losses there have reportedly been on the scale of the offensive near the destroyed city of Bakhmut from the fall of last year to May.

But Ukraine has also failed to make significant progress on the battlefield in a counteroffensive launched in June.

The stalemate has shifted the war in the favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to lock Ukraine into a long conflict and sap Kyiv’s resources.

U.S. aid for Ukraine is running out, and Congress is struggling to pass another bill to approve billions more to keep Ukrainian troops in the fight.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington this week to meet with congressional leaders and President Biden in a bid to shore up more support for his country, but lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain at odds on assistance for Ukraine.

Watson on Tuesday urged Congress to act, saying Putin aims to keep Ukraine mired in a stalemate and to erode Western support for Kyiv.

“Russia seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine,” Watson said in the assessment, “and ultimately give Russia the advantage despite Russian losses and persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions, and equipment.”