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CIA Director Says 15,000 Russian Troops Killed in Just Five Months of Ukraine War

William Burns also says there is no intelligence to back up speculation that Vladimir Putin is in bad health, quipping that he is actually “too healthy.”

U.S. intelligence estimates that 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine in nearly five months of war, according to the director of the CIA. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Wednesday, William Burns added that about another 45,000 of Putin’s soldiers have been injured in since the full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24. “The latest estimates from the U.S. intelligence community would be something in the vicinity of 15,000 [Russian forces] killed and maybe three times that wounded,” Burns said. “So a quite significant set of losses. And, the Ukrainians have suffered as well—probably a little less than that. But, you know, significant casualties.” Russia keeps military deaths strictly secret, even during peacetime, while last month the Ukrainian government said between 100-200 of its own soldiers were being killed on a daily basis. Burns also shot down speculation about the Russian leader being in poor health, saying there was no intelligence to confirm that Vladimir Putin is ill and that he is in fact “entirely too healthy.”