EU assessed in November that Russia lost up to 60% of its military tanks and 250,000 soldiers in Ukraine

Hervé Bléjean, the Director General of the European Union Military Staff, stated that Russia had lost 60% of the total reserve of military tanks during his speech in front of members of the National Assembly of France in November 2022. 

Source: European Pravda, citing a transcript of Bléjean’s speech from 16 November that was published on Wednesday

Quote from Bléjean: "As per our most accurate evaluations, at least 60,000 Russian soldiers were killed and three times as many wounded, which means that approximately 250,000 Russian soldiers are not capable of fighting at the moment."

Details: The Director General of the European Union Military Staff added that it is more complicated to evaluate losses on the Ukrainian side, and the EU believes that those are lower than Russia’s but "still significant".

Quote: "Russia has lost 60% of its tank stockpile as well as 70% of its missile reserve capable of hitting ground targets. Therefore, now Russia uses anti-aircraft missiles to hit ground targets, experiencing relevant issues with precision, and counts on receiving equipment from Iran or North Korea."

More details: He explained that it is hard to evaluate the shipments from Pyongyang, but Iran had already supplied UAVs to Russia at that moment. Negotiations on transferring medium-range ballistic missiles were also ongoing then. 

Bléjean also named the EU evaluations, according to which Russia has lost 40% of armoured combat vehicles and 20% of artillery since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

He predicted a resume of active offensive operations by Ukraine in spring 2023. However, in order to do that, Kyiv needs to create three new army corps with approximately 75,000 men, the "approximate number of the ground operative group of the French Army".

"Therefore this is the war of attrition like never before, and Ukrainians need our support to restore their strength, repair or replace equipment, as well as have the possibility of continuing to liberate territories annexed after winter," Bléjean pointed out.

Background: Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, believes that Russia is preparing another wave of offensive during its aggression against Ukraine. He has also warned against underestimating the impact of mobilisation in the Russian Federation.      

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