During the invasion of Russia, more than 7,000 Russian military died in Ukraine. This is reported by New York Times with reference to the Pentagon data.
It exceeds the number of American servicemen who died in 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, according to representatives of the Pentagon, in the Russian army from 14 to 21 thousand wounded.
At the same time, the anonymous sources of New York Times noted that their data may be inaccurate. They are drawn up on the basis of media data, numbers of official parties, satellite images and video shooters of Russian troops.
According to American officials, such a number of those killed in three weeks of fighting is stunning and has consequences for the combat capability of Russian divisions.
Information of Ukraine, NATO and Russia testifies that Russia has lost at least three generals.
In the Pentagon, it is noted that a large and increasing number of dead can undermine the wishes to continue the fighting. There is information that Russians throw equipment and hide in the forests.
Looks like they [Significant losses] affect the combat spirit and cohesion of units, especially considering that these soldiers do not understand what they are fighting, “said Evelin Farkas, a former high-ranking officer of the Pentagon during the Obama administration.
However, we are talking only about the ground forces, Pharkas added. Russia increasingly uses aircraft for attacks into Ukrainian cities. According to sources, such a tactic helps to mask the poor work of the Russian military on Earth.
Western officials say that in Ukraine there may be about 20 Russian generals.
Two NYT sources noted that many Russian generals speak unprotected phones and radio. According to them, at least in one case, the Ukrainians intercepted the call of the general, determined his geolocation and made an attack, during which they killed him.
According to the Ukrainian side, the losses of the Russian army in Ukraine as of March 16 are 13.8 thousand people, 430 tanks, 1375 combat armored cars.