Nearly half of the Russian troops initially sent to invade Ukraine have been killed or wounded, a U.S. lawmaker told CNN.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., on Wednesday told CNN that more than 75,000 Russian soldiers have been either killed or wounded since President Vladimir Putin began the unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24.
Russia reportedly had amassed 150,000 soldiers along the Ukrainian border before the attack. The new casualty numbers would mean heavy losses for Putin’s forces.
Slotkin spoke after a classified briefing on the war in Ukraine with Biden administration officials who described the Russian military as drained.
Lawmakers also heard that the Russian military is fatigued, and that Ukrainians are looking for additional reinforcements to launch a counteroffensive in the south before the winter, CNN reported.
"We were briefed that over 75,000 Russians have either been killed or wounded, which is huge.You've got incredible amounts of investment in their land forces, over 80% of their land forces are bogged down, and they're tired,” Slotkin, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told CNN.
"But they’re still the Russian military."
Slotkin told CNN there was bipartisan support for sending Ukraine long-range missiles, known as ATACMS, that can strike as far as 180 miles. The Ukrainians currently rockets that only can strike distances of less than 50 miles.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, though, reiterated at last week’s Aspen Security Forum that the U.S. would not provide ATACMS because they could be used to strike into Russian territory, which would escalate the war further.
U.S. and Western officials believe Ukraine will try to reclaim the southern city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russia since March.
"The sort of main conversation in the briefing was what more we can and should be doing for the Ukrainians, literally in the next three to six weeks, very urgently," Slotkin, who recently visited Ukraine, told CNN. "Ukrainians want to go to the south and do operations in the south. And we want them to be as successful as possible.
"I think that what we heard very firmly from President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and reinforced today is that the Ukrainians really want to hit Russia in the teeth a few times before the winter comes, put them in the best position possible, particularly hitting them down south."
Richard Moore, head of the United Kingdom’s secret intelligence service MI6, said at the Aspen forum that he believes the Russians will begin to lose steam in the coming weeks because they are running out of troops.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.