Russia-Ukraine conflict: CIA chief says 15,000 Russians killed in war

Moving towards the fifth month of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dozens of civilians were killed amidst the continuous shelling and strikes. According to the United States’ CIA chief said, Russia has suffered thousands of casualties from its war.

Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado this week, CIA Director William Burns estimated the number of Russian casualties in the war that has been going on since February. Burns said that Russia has around 15,000 of its forces dead while 45,000 are wounded from its aggression toward Ukraine.

This comes as Russian forces, along with pro-Russian separatist forces, have occupied one-fifth of Ukraine for nearly five months since it invaded back in February. Burns said Russia’s gains came with consequences.

“The largest estimates from the US intelligence community would be something in the vicinity of 15,000 killed and maybe three times that wounded. So quite a significant set of losses,” said Burns, who noted that Ukrainian forces likely suffered less.

“And the Ukrainians have suffered as well – probably a little less than that. But, you know, significant casualties,” said the CIA chief.

Russia usually deems its casualty numbers as state secrets even in times of peace. Back in March, Moscow reported that 1,535 Russian soldiers were killed in its war. Kyiv said in June that 100 to 200 Ukrainian troops were being killed per day.

Burns also said that in the meantime, Russia’s focus on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine suggested that they learned from their failures at the start of the invasion, where Moscow failed to capture Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

“In a way, what the Russian military has done is retreat to a more comfortable way of war, in a sense, by using their advantages and long-range firepower to stand off and effectively destroy Ukrainian targets and to compensate for the weaknesses in manpower that they still experience,” said Burns.

The United Kingdom’s MI6 chief Richard Moore also echoed Burn’s estimate of 15,000 Russian fatalities, describing the numbers as a “conservative estimate” during the forum.

Moore explained that Russian forces are likely running “out of steam” and that they would increasingly find it difficult to supply more manpower and material in the coming weeks.

Moore said Russian forces might be forced to “pause,” which would give Ukrainian forces a chance to launch a counterattack.