Putin has lost more troops in Ukraine than America lost on Iwo Jima: U.S. intel

New estimates show the devastating impact Ukrainian defenses are having on invading Russian forces.

"In 36 days of fighting on Iwo Jima during World War II, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed. Now, 20 days after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia invaded Ukraine, his military has already lost more soldiers, according to American intelligence estimates. The conservative side of the estimate, at more than 7,000 Russian troop deaths, is greater than the number of American troops killed over 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined," The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the Pentagon said "Russian advances continue to be stalled near Kyiv, the Ukraine capital, and those forces have not made any significant advances toward the city."

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The losses may be heavy enough to take some units off the battlefield.

"It is a staggering number amassed in just three weeks of fighting, American officials say, with implications for the combat effectiveness of Russian units, including soldiers in tank formations. Pentagon officials say a 10 percent casualty rate, including dead and wounded, for a single unit renders it unable to carry out combat-related tasks," the newspaper reported. "With more than 150,000 Russian troops now involved in the war in Ukraine, Russian casualties, when including the estimated 14,000 to 21,000 injured, are near that level. And the Russian military has also lost at least three generals in the fight, according to Ukrainian, NATO and Russian officials."

Former ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul was shocked that Putin may have lost three of his twenty generals inside Ukraine.

“Three generals already — that’s a shocking number,” McFaul said.

Read the full report.