CIA chief: Russian soldier in the war in Ukraine lives on average 30 minutes
Russian recruits die on average 20-30 minutes after arriving at the war in Ukraine, stated John Ratcliffe, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), at the Summit on Defense and Innovation in the American state of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, July 15.
«Our intelligence data is consistent with some reports from open sources that you may have seen in Ukraine,» Ratcliffe noted. According to him, it is harder for soldiers to survive because «drones with artificial intelligence have become specialized and inexpensive killing machines».
Ratcliffe noted that Ukraine's mastery of new technologies has become a «powerful factor equalizing the chances» and led to a slowdown in the advance of the Russian army.
Meanwhile, analysts from the Washington-based think tank CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) claim that the Russian army in 2026 began to lose eight times more military personnel than the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war in February 2022, about 2 million military personnel have been listed as killed, wounded, or missing — of which 1.4 million are on the Russian side, according to the organization's study.
If the ratio of losses between Russia and Ukraine for most of the time was 2:1 or 3:1, then in the first half of 2026, according to estimates, it increased to 8:1. According to some data, more than 90% of Russian losses are due to drone strikes, and not direct combat clashes.
Source: DW
