Russian forces are “effectively crippled” as Vladimir Putin insists on a “meat grinder” war strategy, Ben Wallace has said.
The Defence Secretary made the comments after US analysts estimated that more than 75,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine – the equivalent to almost the entire British Army.
Mr Wallace said: “Putin hasn’t changed from his desire to occupy the whole of Ukraine, take Kyiv and Odesa… but his army has been effectively crippled by huge amounts of losses. Over 25,000 dead. Maybe twice as many injured.
“When I talk about meat grinder, which is what they’re doing, is that they are resorting to a sort of Soviet tactic… moving very slowly – metres, not miles, a day, in some parts.
“And on the top of the meat grinder… they are recruiting from the poorest districts in Russia, and the ethnic minorities, and they are using mercenaries, shoving these people in with very little regard to the outcome, grinding forward.”
He said that longer-range Western weapons are “now having a material effect”, and that the Russians “are operating their army at roughly about 40 to 50 per cent combat effective”.
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