04 April 2024, Thursday, 17:12 1993

Russia almost completely restored combat capability of its army - U.S. Department of State official

Editor: Tetiana Herasimova

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The aggressor state of Russia has rebuilt its army after suffering massive losses during a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Defense News reports this with reference to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

“We have assessed over the course of the last couple of months that Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily,” said Kurt Campbell.

Moscow has increased defense spending from 2022 to 6% of national GDP in the 2024 budget. This growth is part of a larger effort by the russian federation to move its economy, and in particular the defense industry, onto a wartime footing.

Part of the success of the aggressor comes from the support of China, as well as from North Korea and Iran. Campbell and another senior U.S. administration official said on condition of anonymity that China has helped its russian partner survive economic and military setbacks over the past two years.

“We’ve really seen the [People’s Republic of China] start to help to rebuild Russia’s defense industrial base, essentially backfilling the trade from European partners” that lapsed when Russia invaded, the official said.

The publication notes that the assessment of Campbell appears to contradict that of the Pentagon and America's allies in Europe. Earlier, Defense Minister Lloyd Austin said that russia lost more than 315,000 people during the war. With the drop in American aid leading to a shortage of ammunition on Ukraine's front lines, russian troops have advanced, but this success has come at a high cost to the russian federation, the Pentagon said.

The head of Lithuania's national security committee estimated that russia would need five to seven years to rebuild its forces for a full-scale war.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the aggressor state russia recruits about 1,000-1,200 people into the army every day to replenish losses in the war with Ukraine.

British intelligence believes that the aggressor country russia is planning to call up another 170,000 russians for the war against Ukraine.

On December 1, russian president vladimir putin signed a decree increasing the number of the armed forces of the russian federation by 170,000 to 1.3 million servicemen.