#Ukraine taking toll on #Russia|n forces Pentagon assesses since February 2022, Russia's suffered 600,000 casualties This September, "Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed & wounded in action than in any other month" per a sr US defense official
"#Russia|n losses, again, both killed & wounded in action in just the 1st year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War Two combined" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine "have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large #Russia|n Federation navy vessels in the #BlackSea" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine's forces "have also destroyed more than two thirds of Russia's pre-war inventory of tanks, forcing the Russian military to dig into Soviet era stockpiles and fuel tanks from World War Two" per sr US defense official
Recent #Ukraine drone attacks on #Russia ammo & fuel depots "making a serious dent in Russian supply lines" per the sr official Total tonnage destroyed "represents the largest loss of Russian & #NorthKorea|n supplied ammunition during the war...hundreds of thousands of rounds"
"#Russia|n efforts to minimize risk to existing ammunition depots probably will force the Russian military to undertake inefficient adaptations that will slow delivery of ammunition to the front" per sr US defense official
Despite losses, #Russia is redoubling its efforts in the east, per sr US defense official "Russia has also demonstrated time and time again a willingness to do whatever it takes to attempt to force the Ukrainians to capitulate, including purposely targeting Ukrainian civilians"
No indication of major changes to #Russia's strategy vs #Ukraine, per a sr US military official "It's an attritional strategy" per the official, adding that w/winter coming, " I expect more of the same from the Russians"
"I expect them [#Russia] to continue to try to make incremental gains to try to attrit #Ukrainian defenses" per the sr US military official "That's a really tall task for them...we do see a large and growing number of Russian casualties as they do this"
#Russia|n casualties-"It's kind of the Russian way of war that they continue to throw mass into the into the problem" per sr US military official
#Ukraine w/winter approaching "are thinking forward to 2025 and how they set themselves up for battlefield success" per sr US military official
"...ensuring that the additional brigades can come online as they increase their recruitment, as they get better equipment & training, reconstituting brigades that they're cycling off the front line & really building up their combat power" per sr US military official
"Certainly they're focused on how they get through the winter, but they're thinking a little bit longer term about how they set conditions for success next year" per sr US military official
Vladimir Putin "is trying to avoid a mass mobilization because of the effect that would have on #Russia's domestic population" per sr US defense official "We're just watching very closely how long that stance can actually be one that he can maintain"
"[Putin] has been able to significantly increase the pay of these voluntary soldiers & he has been able to continue to field those forces without doing a major mobilization" per sr US defense official
#Ukraine's made drones "are doing very well" per sr US military official "There's clear evidence of that with some of the one-way attack drone attacks against the [#Russia|n] ammo storage points"
#Ukraine offensive in #Russia's Kursk region- "My assessment is that the Ukrainians will be able to maintain their position in Kursk for some amount of time here into the future" per sr US military official "...several months and potentially beyond"
"There have been some uneven counteroffensive, some limited offensive by the #Russia|ns, but there's been nothing that would indicate to me that they're ready to make a major play toward taking Kursk back" per sr US military official