It is estimated that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has cost Russia up to $211 billion in equipping, deploying, and maintaining its troops in Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters on Feb. 16.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the senior defense official said that Moscow has also lost more than $10 billion in canceled or postponed arms sales.
"I don't think we've talked quite as much about the costs that Russia has already incurred and continues to incur," the official said.
Nearly two years since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, the anonymous official noted that the war had cost Russia an expected $1.3 trillion in anticipated economic growth through 2026.
According to the senior defense official's accounts, about 315,000 Russian troops had either been killed or injured so far in the war, in contrast to the assertions made by Ukraine's General Staff that claims that Russia has lost 400,300 troops since the start of the war - although estimates on Russian causalities vary widely.
The senior defense official also noted that Ukraine has destroyed or damaged at least 20 medium to large Russian Navy vessels and one Russian flag tanker in the Black Sea, seemingly in line the Ukraine's General Staff's reporting.
Amid the political gridlock in the U.S. House of Representatives, and with U.S. aid funding running dry, the official urged Congress to pass additional aid funding for Ukraine.
"Without supplemental funding we will not be able to continue to supply Ukraine's air defenses... We will see more civilians dying."
Earlier on Feb. 16, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers unveiled a new combined $66 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, after the Republican-controlled House withheld a vote on a previous version of a funding package.
It remains unclear if the new bill will be broadly supported by House Republicans.
Dmytro Basmat
