Washington Post: In classified briefing, House members told Ukraine has suffered 1,500 casualties since invasion started

By
Jim W. Dean and Gordon Duff
-
7
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Submitted to VT by The Washington Post:

Monday night’s classified briefing

  • House members are told Ukraine has suffered 1,500 casualties since invasion started, per two people in the briefing – unclear whether that count includes injured or is limited to fatalities

  • Sadly, that toll – already significant – is expected to grow in the coming days, military and intel experts say



  • Among those leading the briefing: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines

  • Another 3-4 weeks: That’s how long this phase of conflict could last, the group estimated, before turning into an insurgency against invading Russian forces

  • Quote: Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said, “Ukrainians are fighting hard and doing their end of this — we just need to get them the resupplies and munitions necessary to keep the fight going.”

  • Quote: Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), born and raised in Ukraine, added: “Ukrainians are just not going to submit.”

The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany, John Hudson and Marianna Sotomayor report: 

House lawmakers who received a classified briefing Monday evening from senior Biden administration officials on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were told that 1,500 civilian and military casualties have occurred since the invasion began, according to two people in the briefing. It was unclear whether the casualty count referred only to fatalities or included those injured as well.

The group, which included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, also estimated that the current phase of the conflict could last another three to four weeks before turning into an insurgency against invading Russian forces.

“Eventually, I think Russia is going to win this over, but what they win is going to be the bigger question,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) “I just don’t see how they could occupy a country that size with a resistance that strong.”

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) urged the administration to get more weapons to Ukrainian forces faster.

“Ukrainians are fighting hard and doing their end of this — we just need to get them the resupplies and munitions necessary to keep the fight going,” Crow said.

The casualty count from the House briefing differed from other publicly available numbers, but variation in such statistics is unsurprising, given the difficulty of quantifying the toll in real time as on-the-ground conditions worsen.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for instance, reported at least 406 civilian casualties — including 102 dead — but UNHCR Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that the “real figure could be considerably higher.”

The toll, already significant for just a few days of fighting, is also expected to grow substantially in the coming days, military and intelligence experts have said.

“It’s only going to get worse,” said Angela Stent, a scholar at Georgetown University and a former intelligence official who worked on Russia issues.

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who was born and raised in Ukraine, agreed, saying she expects the death count to rise, especially considering the heavy shelling in major cities such as Kharkiv.

“It’s likely going to be very significant loss of life,” she said, but added: “In the long run, Ukrainians are not going to surrender. Ukrainians are just not going to submit.”

Continue reading: https://wapo.st/35A7PYH

 

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Well, they rolled out the ‘WMD’ lies again…in a security briefing. Say, didn’t that WMD claim turn to be…absolute lies? Of course, how they got these numbers will be a matter of Nat Security and sources can’t be revealed. Again. F’ing sad.

  2. We have an opportunity here, to stay out of it. Sending weapons is a complete waste and will lead to more deaths. We have an opportunity to see who our real friends are when we do not commit violence for them every time they come running. We are not part of that most violent section of the world, and yet we are constantly in the middle of it. This is not what we signed up for, and it will lead to no good end. Stay out of it. No weapons. If we feel so bad about the dead, stop creating more.

    • We all know the response from the architects of constant war. “Its complicated”.

      No, it isn’t. It is extremely simple. The people are tired of endless war and death due to greed.
      We are also feeling less and less like a democracy, as our government repeatedly acts against the public will. Have we no corruption here to attend ?

  3. As Gordon and others who have survived combat will attest, when the fog of war rolls in, everyone seems to be a target. Some “good” human behavior is maintained, but the strongest human emotion FEAR begins to rule. What are the folks in US government afraid of or are they just great humanitarians trying to stop the war. The Ukranian government is very much just a street gang. Let them arm themselves if they choose. Based on limited video from inside, I suspect some of the bombing of civilian targets was by Ukranian outlaws. Putin walked into anothet quagmire and will pay dearly, but we have no skin in this game. Can’t wait to hear Biden lies tonight. How do these guys sleep. I guess practice does make perfect.

    • As the ex-pat in Kiev explained in his video, in which he did a very good job of explaining, the way Russia is conducting this action will hopefully preempt it becoming a quagmire. Since Russia has no plans to long term occupy, their plan has every chance to succeed…especially after those in the cities, who saw what their own gov did to them, tell all…and they will. A quagmire is expected when you obliterate all the infrastructure, destroy governmental departments, the police and the nation’s military. That is a US hallmark and does not correspond to Russia’s tactics. What could cause a problem is the west and their incessant lies and subterfuge. Want to bet that the EU comes around when it becomes clear that there will be a country for those that fled, to return to? It’s not as if they need or want thousands of refugees, so I see a good chance they will succeed. Anyway, that’s my glass-half-full opinion. I think the fallout over this in Europe is going to fall mainly on the US/NATO actions. Which could hopefully also spell doom for NATO and their forever Gladio ops.

  4. Unfortunately, there will be many more dead civilians there. In Kiev, about 20 thousand Kalashnikov assault rifles and about 10 million rounds of ammunition were distributed to passers-by. Zelensky’s second criminal decree: release criminals from prisons and arm them. Can you imagine what will happen? And I already know: gangs of looters with AK are operating in Kiev every day, killing, robbing, raping their own compatriots. The day before yesterday in Kiev, about 60 people were killed in shootings among themselves. This is artificial chaos.

    • As if Ukrainians will kill more of each other than Russia will ? Why not bring up how awful the roads were before the tanks tore them up ?

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