Russia Military at Pre-war Level, US General Says

(Dreamstime)

Russia is bolstering its forces for the war in Ukraine at a “far faster” rate than the United States originally estimated, a top general said.

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, said at Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday that Russia’s military has “grown back to what they were before” launching its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Newsweek reported.

Russian troops have “got some gaps that have been produced by this war, but their overall capacity is very significant still, and they intend to make it go higher,” Cavoli said.

In a statement before the hearing, Cavoli wrote that while parts of Russia’s Armed Forces — including their air and land capabilities — were hit hard by the war, a larger part of Moscow’s military “lost no capacity at all.”

“Russia is reconstituting that force far faster than our initial estimates suggested,” Cavoli wrote. “The army is actually now larger — by 15% — than it was when it invaded Ukraine. Over the past year, Russia increased its front line troop strength from 360,000 to 470,000.”

The testimony came as military assistance to Ukraine is held up in Congress while Ukraine works to stabilize its front lines before a Russian spring offensive begins.

“The severity of this moment cannot be overstated,” Cavoli said during his opening statements Thursday, Newsweek reported. “If we do not continue to support Ukraine, Ukraine could lose.”

The Senate green-lit a $95 billion foreign aid bill in February, which includes $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine. The package also provides aid to Israel and Taiwan amid growing tensions in those regions.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., indicated that he plans to take the bill up for a vote amid a backlash from some GOP lawmakers.

Cavoli also spoke in front of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, telling lawmakers Russia is “demolishing cities and are destroying innocent lives on a scale we have not seen since the Second World War,” and warning that Ukraine’s soldiers were being outshot by Russian troops 5-to-1.

“The stakes are very high,” Cavoli said.