CNN: White House: Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties since December

Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties since December in a key signal that Moscow’s winter offensive has “backfired,” according to new estimated figures from the White House. #CNN #News

Transcript

ELECTION FRAUD. THE PARTY, MORE THAN 40% OF THE VOTE. NEW DETAILS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE ABOUT THE RUSSIAN CASUALTIES IN UKRAINE. THE BIDEN MINISTRATION SAYS MORE THAN 100,000 RUSSIAN TROOPS ARE BEING KILLED OR WOUNDED IN UKRAINE SINCE DECEMBER. THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT SAYS THAT IS PROOF THAT RUSSIA’S WAR HAS BACKFIRED. CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL

SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NICK PATON WALSH, IS LIVE IN ZAPORIZHZHIA FOR US. AND YOU WOULD EXPECT TO HAVE GOT SOME SORT OF RESPONSE ON THOSE NUMBERS, CERTAINLY SOUNDS SIGNIFICANT ON RUSSIAN DEATHS FROM THE KREMLIN, WHAT HAVE WE HEARD? >> THE KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON, DIMITRI, HAS TOLD REPORTERS THAT THE WHITE HOUSE HAS

ABSOLUTELY NO WAY OF BEING ABLE TO ESTIMATE RUSSIAN CASUALTIES AND WE SHOULD LOOK TO THE LAST OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE, JUST PLUS 6000 DEATHS IS THEIR LATEST STATEMENT. LOOK, JOHN KIRBY, THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKES PERSON, WHEN HE GAVE THIS FIGURE, IT’S, YOU KNOW, SUSPICIOUSLY AROUND, TO BE HONEST.

THAT IS BASED ON INTELLIGENCE THAT HAD BEEN DOWNGRADED. ESSENTIALLY CLASSIFY, DECLASSIFY AS THE FRONT WORK BEING RELEASED PUBLICLY. WENT ON TO GET MORE DETAILS, MAKES SLIGHTLY MORE SENSE OF IT. 20,000 DIED, THE REMAINING 80,000 ARE INJURED, THAT MAYBE, WE DON’T KNOW, THAT MAY BE THE RESULT OF THEIR ASSESSMENT, FOR

EVERY PERSON WHO, DIES FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE INJURED IN A NORMAL BATTLEFIELD. THAT’S CERTAINLY THE RATIO THAT NATO HOPES TO OBTAIN AND ITS OPERATIONS. AT THE SAME TIME, HE SAID HALF OF THOSE 20,000 DEAD WERE WAGNER FIGHTERS. THAT WOULD PROBABLY LOCATE THEM IN THE EXCEPTIONALLY GRISLY BATTLE FOR BAKHMUT WE SAW TAKE

PLACE SINCE OCTOBER OR NOVEMBER. THE KEY FOCUS OF RUSSIA’S MILITARY ACTIVITIES SINCE THEN, THE GRISLY FOCUS OF THEIR WINTER COUNTEROFFENSIVE, UTTERLY FUTILE, FRANKLY. AND IN THE LAST FEW DAYS, WE’VE SEEN KEY RUSSIAN MILITARY FIGURE, YOU’VE BEEN A PRIGOZHIN AHEAD OF THAT WAGNER GROUP COME FORWARD AND SAY, WITHOUT MORE

ARTILLERY SHELLS, HE’S NOT SURE THESE GUYS CAN HANG ON IN BAKHMUT. HE’S MADE MISLEADING STATEMENTS BEFORE, WE SIMPLY DON’T KNOW WHERE THAT’S COMING FROM. AT THE SAME TIME, UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS HAVE SAID THEY’RE PUSHING BACK. MANAGING TO GET RUSSIANS TO LEAVE POSITIONS. THIS IS BEEN A BACK AND FORTH FOR MONTHS NOW.

IT’S ONE WHERE THE LAST FEW WEEKS, WE’VE BEGUN TO GET THE FEELING RUSSIA THOUGHT I HAD THE HIGH GROUND, HAD THE CAPACITY, POTENTIALLY, TO ENCIRCLE THE REMAINING UKRAINIAN TROOPS INSIDE. INSIDE THAT CITY. IT SEEMS TO BE REVERSING. A BACK AND FORTH THAT MAY CONTINUE TO MOVE. ON BUT I THINK THE MESSAGE WE

CAN TAKE FROM THE WHITE HOUSE CERTAINLY WITH THESE NUMBERS, WHICH LACK OF EVIDENCE, CERTAINLY BEHIND THEM. THEY DO CERTAINLY SPEAK OF AN APPALLING WINTER THAT RUSSIA HAS HAD. THE FACT THAT THE BIDEN MINISTRATION IS VERY KEEN TO BE BEHIND THIS FORTHCOMING UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE. REMINDING THE WORLD HOW CATASTROPHICALLY BAD RUSSIAN

DECISIONS ARE ON THE BATTLEFIELD, HOW THEIR DECISION TO FIGHT FOR THE SYMBOLIC BUT STRATEGICALLY NOT VERY USEFUL CITY OF BAKHMUT, IT HAS TAKEN UP WHAT REMAINING RESOURCES THEY HAVE. BECKY, WE SPOKE TO RUSSIAN CONVICTS WHO WERE RECRUITED — SENT TO THE FRONT LINE TO FIGHT INJURED, AND THEN CALLED US

FROM THE HOSPITAL TO SAY THEY’RE CONCERNED ABOUT BEING SENT BACK TO THE FRONT LINE STILL INJURED. THERE REALLY APPEARS THAT STRAINING THE RESOURCES ON THE HUMAN LEVEL THAT THEY’RE SENDING TO THAT FRONTLINE. THAT CERTAINLY SPEAKS OF DESPERATION AHEAD OF THIS UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE, INTO WHICH BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF NATO WEAPONRY, TRAINING, AND

PLANNING APPEAR TO HAVE GONE, A SENIOR U.S. OFFICIAL TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY HAVE BEEN TRAINING THE ACRANIA FOR A SURPRISE ATTACK. WE ARE SEEING INDICATIONS HERE IN ZAPORIZHZHIA THAT SOME OF THAT COUNTEROFFENSIVE MAYBE BEGINNING ARE BEGINNING TO HAVE ITS PEARLY YOU’D, IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL, UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT OBVIOUSLY WON’T TELL US WHEN THEY’RE STARTING.

VERY STARK INDICTMENT WHERE RUSSIA IS AHEAD OF THE

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