Russia is said to still have many tanks in reserve, despite losses. © LIBKOS/AP/dpa
Estonia worried: Putin's military poses a threat to NATO's eastern flank. Despite high losses, the army has acceptable equipment.
Moscow/Kiev - On NATO's eastern flank, NATO forces are now preparing to face a Russian army that is still well equipped. In the meantime, however, the Western military alliance has also had time to upgrade and expand the national armed forces.
At the Lennart Meri conference, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told Newsweek that it would take "several years" for Russian forces to regain their pre-invasion strike power. "Even if they lost equipment and men in Ukraine, they still pose a threat to Estonia and, by extension, to NATO," Pevkur said in an interview at the Ministry of Defense in Tallinn.
Despite high losses: Putin's army has "thousands of tanks" and is a "threat to NATO"
Pevkur and others stressed that Russia suffered very high losses in soldiers. Moscow's naval and air forces would have even greater capacities. "The Russian Navy did not suffer much," Pevkur said. "The Air Force as well, but not so much either."
"The army, yes," the minister added. "Yes, she has a shortage of tanks, but she still has thousands of tanks in her reserves. Okay, they're very old. They can overhaul or renovate one out of three tanks, and they would still have thousands of tanks," the minister said. Then Pevkur continues. "We must understand that Russia poses a threat to NATO, to Estonia, to Latvia, to NATO's eastern flank. And that's why we need to be prepared as soon as possible,"
Russian units have suffered losses of 20 to 40 percent
At the initial stage of the invasion, the Kremlin's top elite units led the ill-fated push on Kyiv. Many did not return. Those who returned were repeatedly involved in fighting in the eastern Donbas or crushed in the lightning-fast Ukrainian autumn offensive in the Kharkiv region. Officials told Newsweek that some of Russia's most prominent units have suffered losses of 20 to 40 percent.
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Peeter Kuimet, the head of the Estonian Ministry of Defense's Department of International Cooperation, stated that it was obvious "that the elite of the Russian army - motorized rifle groups and airborne assault units - suffered heavy losses in Ukraine."
Losses in the Ukraine war: "Some senior officers and generals are dead"
"Some of the most well-trained professional soldiers, junior officers, some senior officers and generals are dead. This level of quality cannot be restored in a few years. But that doesn't seem to bother the Russians at all when you look at how they continue to wage war in Ukraine," Kuimet said. (mse)
