Another year of war in Ukraine!

The Russian army has the manpower and weaponry to fight for another year in Ukraine, America’s top commander in Europe has warned. Despite suffering a huge toll of deaths and injuries - more than 200,000 - President Putin’s invasion force still enjoyed “strategic depth in manpower”, General Christopher Cavoli told the Senate armed services committee. The head of US European Command and supreme allied commander Europe said the number of Russian troops now in Ukraine exceeded the size of the force which crossed the border into Ukraine on February 24 last year. An estimated 150,000-200,000 troops invaded Ukraine. In more than 14 months of war, Cavoli said, Russia had lost only one warship – Moskva, the Black Sea Fleet flagship cruiser – and about 80 fighter aircraft and tactical bombers out of an air fleet of around 1,000. “[So] this war is far from over. I think [the Russians] can fight another year,” the general said. Moscow had addressed vulnerabilities exposed during the early stages of the war, he said. This had included poor logistics back-up for the advancing troops and armour. Countering reports that the Ukrainian military was running out of weapons prior to launching an expected counter-offensive against Russian-occupied positions in eastern and southern Ukraine, Cavoli said the US and allies had delivered 98 per cent of the artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles Kyiv had asked for. He revealed that 2,400 “grievously wounded” Ukrainian soldiers had been evacuated from Ukraine and were currently receiving medical treatment.