Russia is increasingly relying on foreign fighters to continue its offensive in Ukraine, and its losses are now outstripping its recruitment capacity, British Defense Secretary John Healy said, Bloomberg reported today.
Healy said Kiev has inflicted more losses on Russian forces than Moscow has managed to recruit new fighters in the past two months.
The British minister said this referring to information provided by Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
Healy added that the Russian military now relies on "thousands" of foreign recruits, particularly from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Cuba, Nigeria and Senegal, often "recruited under false pretenses."
He estimated the number of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Moscow at around 17.000.
After almost four years of war, fighting remains concentrated along a 1.200-kilometer front line, with few significant territorial gains since the first year of the conflict.
Russian losses, estimated by Western officials at more than 1,2 million dead and wounded, call into question the Kremlin's narrative of inevitable victory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the 30.000 Russian soldiers killed in January and hinted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would eventually be forced to respond to the scale of the losses.
According to London, the increased Ukrainian use of drones contributed to higher Russian losses on certain parts of the front, where the ratio reached as many as 25 Russian soldiers killed or wounded for every one Ukrainian.
"Putin wants to give the impression of inevitable progress, but he is weaker and more dependent on foreign fighters than before," Healy added.
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