Michael Kofman: Russia has probably lost a generation of officers in this war, at least

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“I think it's important to understand that whatever we knew about the Russian military prior to 2022, a great deal has changed. In many respects, that military is now gone. The army that Russia had, with which it invaded Ukraine, a large part of that force has been lost. The people that were in it had been lost, the officers, and a fair amount of equipment. Now, Russia hasn't suffered nearly the same losses to its aerospace forces or its Navy, but nonetheless, it's clear that there have been significant changes to the Russian military.

It's fighting with an increasingly mobilized force that consists of people who they have hired and contracted from across Russia. And it's fair to say that they probably lost a generation of officers in this war at least, and it's not clear what the future of the Russian military will be either the current leadership under Shoigu, the minister of defense and Gerasimov, the chief general staff. Both of them were quite old, they're at the end of their 60s, they've served a very, very long time. And it's clear that their impression from this war is that the problem with the Russian military is that it was not Soviet enough”, – says the guest of the new episode of the (un)Safe Country podcast.

What has changed in the enemy's army during the war that the aggressor country has unleashed against Ukraine, and what can we expect from Russia this year?

In the new episode of the "(Un)Safe Country" podcast, its host Alina Frolova talks to Michael Kofman, a military analyst and senior fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The discussion covers the capabilities of Russia and Ukraine in the war, the assistance and support of Ukraine by the United States and Europe, the future strategy of Ukraine and its partners, possible development scenarios, the upcoming US elections and the expected outcome of the voting in Congress.