Austin believes that Putin is desperate, and the proof is the North Koreans

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said that Russia has suffered significant losses in a full-scale war against Ukraine, which is why Russian leader Vladimir Putin was forced to call in North Korean troops in desperation.

Source: Austin at a press conference after the end of the meeting in the format of “Rammstein” in Germany on January 9, reports “Evropeyska Pravda”

Details: Austin cited the latest US estimates, according to which Russia has lost more than 700,000 troops in Ukraine since 2022. The “losses” include both dead and wounded Russian soldiers.

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“Russian losses in Ukraine now exceed two-thirds of the entire strength of the Russian army at the beginning of the war that Putin chose. Only in November 2024, Russia lost almost 1,500 soldiers every day,” he emphasized.

The head of the Pentagon added that due to the inability to compensate for such losses, Russia was forced to “recruit people in prisons and force contractors” to participate in the war.

“Moscow even led troops from North Korea into a foreign war. This is another clear sign of Putin’s desperation. North Korean forces have lost more than a thousand people since they entered Putin’s war last December. Of course, there are other estimates that are much higher for this one,” Austin added.

British intelligence previously stated that in 2024, Russia suffered record losses in terms of killed and wounded in the war against Ukraine, and the month of the largest losses was December.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian losses as of January 9 exceeded 803,000 soldiers.

At the beginning of December, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky published data that since February 24, 2022, 43 thousand Ukrainian soldiers died and 370 thousand were wounded, while Russian losses at that time exceeded 750 thousand people, of which 198 thousand were killed and more than 550 thousand wounded.