Furthermore, that text in the article links to a fact-check, which says he is right.
What Biden Said: “The Russian military has been decimated. You don’t write about that. It’s been freaking decimated.”
The Facts: This is a fair assessment, according to a Reuters report on a declassified U.S. intelligence assessment provided to Congress. The intelligence determined that Russia had 360,000 active military personnel when it invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. By December of last year, 315,000 Russian troops had been either killed or injured in the war—a reduction in troop strength by 87%.
The troop losses are actually replaceable (as tragic as that may be), but the planes, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and anti-air missiles are not. They have lost thousands of these and literally do not have enough parts to build more.
They’re not even really replaceable from a military perspective if you’re losing experienced, trained soldiers. Replacing them requires an investment in time, effort, and money.
Of course, as I understand it, Russia just replaces the bodies and doesn’t bother with the training or experience.
Furthermore, that text in the article links to a fact-check, which says he is right.
The troop losses are actually replaceable (as tragic as that may be), but the planes, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, and anti-air missiles are not. They have lost thousands of these and literally do not have enough parts to build more.
The troops are replaceable from a military perspective, but I don’t think their mothers hold the same opinion.
They’re not even really replaceable from a military perspective if you’re losing experienced, trained soldiers. Replacing them requires an investment in time, effort, and money.
Of course, as I understand it, Russia just replaces the bodies and doesn’t bother with the training or experience.
“Decimate” means “to reduce by one tenth,” so according to that fact check Biden was vastly understating it.
I call it octodecimation