The Ukraine are “wreaking havoc” and Vladimir Putin is facing a crushing defeat as the US supplied HIMARS are turning the tide in the war.
Foreign Policy magazine’s deputy editor, James Palmer, said the HIMARS, are wreaking “havoc” which are “terrifyingly dominant” in Putin’s war.
Ruslan Pukhov, a defence analyst and director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, predicts that this will lead to a ignominious defeat for Putin before the autumn.
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He said, “But the Ukrainians learn very quickly, they have turned out to be quite talented soldiers.
“Training takes several weeks, therefore the supply of weapons is on the rise, including in terms of quality (such as HIMARS).”
Pukhov then ominously added, “Towards the end of summer, I think, the situation on the front lines may become dramatic.”
A US official said this week that it is most likely that Russia has suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties thus far.
According to Pentagon under-secretary for defence for policy, Colin Kahl, the number of wounded and injured represents a “tremendous number of casualties” for the Kremlin.
He said, “There’s a lot of fog in war, but I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months.
“Now that is a combination of killed in action and wounded in action and that number might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that’s kind of in the ballpark.”
In an attempt to counter the heavy battlefield losses the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said that Putin has established the “3rd Army Corps (3AC)” who are based outside of Moscow.
The Kremlin are offering new recruits with “lucrative cash bonuses” and are targetting men up to the age of 50 who are not educated.
The MoD said in its daily intelligence update on Wednesday: “To support the Ukraine operation, Russia has almost certainly established a major new ground forces formation, 3rd Army Corps (3 AC), based out of Mulino, in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast east of Moscow.
“Russia likely plans to resource a large proportion of 3 AC from newly formed ‘volunteer’ battalions, which are being raised across the country, and which group together recruits from the same areas.
“Russian regional politicians have confirmed that potential 3 AC recruits are being offered lucrative cash bonuses once they deploy to Ukraine.
“Recruitment is open to men up to 50 years old and with only middle-school education.
“A Russian army corps typically consists of 15-20,000 troops, but it will probably be difficult for Russia to bring 3 AC up to this strength, given very limited levels of popular enthusiasm for volunteering for combat in Ukraine.
“3 AC’s effect is unlikely to be decisive to the campaign.”
