The US has seen indications that Russia is looking to recruit “upwards of 60,000 troops” between new conscripts and mobilizing reservists to reinforce their invasion forces, according to a senior US defense official.
The official cautioned that “it remains to be seen” how successful Russia would be in meeting that target, how much training those forces would get, or where they would be sent.
The official also said the US has not seen that there are “fresh reinforcements, fully trained, fully armed” ready to reinforce depleted Russian battalion tactical groups.
With regards to their current ability, Russia is now “below 85% of their assessed available combat power” that Moscow had amassed prior to the invasion of Ukraine in February, a senior US defense official said Friday during a briefing with reporters.
“Of the assessed available combat power that they had available to them before the invasion that they had arrayed against Ukraine for this purpose, of the total assessed combat power that they had we estimate that they are between 80 and 85% of what they had,” the official said which takes into account a variety of factors from the number of tanks, fighter aircraft, missile inventory, as well as troops.
The official would not put a specific number on the total number of Russian troops that have been killed to date in the Ukraine operation.
“The aggregate tells us they are under 85% of their assessed available combat power when they started this invasion,” the official said.
The US also believes the Russian military has not solved “their logistics and sustainment problems,” include those problems that existed outside Ukraine, according to a senior US defense official.
The official said those problems mean that they will be unlikely to be able to reinforce their forces in the eastern part of Ukraine “with any great speed.”
“We don’t believe that in general this is going to be a speedy process for them, given the kinds of casualties they’ve taken and the kind of damage that they’ve sustained to their units’ readiness,” said the official.
